From Think Progress: http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/11/07/2908361/rich-countries-fossil-fuel-subsidies/
By Emily Atkin
November 7, 2013
Producers of oil, gas and coal received more than $500 billion in government subsidies around the world in 2011, with the richest nations collectively spending more than $70 billion every year to support fossil fuels.
Those are the findings of a recent report by the Overseas Development Institute, a think tank based in the United Kingdom.
“If their aim is to avoid dangerous climate change, governments are shooting themselves in both feet,” the report, headed by ODI research fellow Shelagh Whitley, said. “They are subsidizing the very activities that are pushing the world towards dangerous climate change, and creating barriers to investment in low-carbon development and subsidy incentives that encourage investment in carbon-intensive energy.”
While the report acknowledges there is currently no globally agreed definition of what constitutes a subsidy, it cites the World Trade Organization’s approach: “a subsidy is any financial contribution by a government, or agent of a government, that confers a benefit on its recipient.”
Germany, for example, provided €1.9 billion in financial assistance to its hard coal sector in 2011, according to the report. That same year, the U.S. created a $1 billion fuel tax exemption for farmers and invested $500 million for fossil energy research and development. The top 11 “rich-country emitters” — the biggest being Russia, the United States, Australia, Germany and the United Kingdom — are estimated to have spent $74 billion on subsidies in 2011.
That total amount outweighs the support provided to developing countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by seven to one, the report found.
Continue reading at: http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/11/07/2908361/rich-countries-fossil-fuel-subsidies/
