A new study has found that the climate crisis is already leading to a massive increase in the number of people being displaced around the world. Because it is nearly impossible to directly tie climate-related natural disasters to fossil fuel corporations or industrial practices, the report introduces the notion of “petro persecution” as being a major barrier for refugees to receive proper protection under international law. “In order to obtain refugee status, one needs to cross international borders due to real risk of persecution on the basis of one’s race, ethnicity, religion, other circumstances,” says policy analyst and co-author Hossein Ayazi says.

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