Richest Countries Spending Billions to Expand Unburnable Carbon Stock
A new report released today by Oil Change International outlines billions of dollars of annual subsidies from the seven richest countries in the world to expand fossil fuel reserves, despite repeated commitments from those same countries to phase them out.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
27 AUGUST 2014
CONTACT:
Stephen Kretzmann, steve [at] priceofoil [dot] org
Shakuntala Makhijani, shakuntala [at] priceofoil [dot] org
New Report: Richest Countries Spending Billions to Expand Unburnable Carbon Stock
Despite calls from scientists, publicly funded expansion of fossil fuel reserves continues
A new report released today by Oil Change International outlines billions of dollars of annual subsidies from the seven richest countries in the world to expand fossil fuel reserves, despite repeated commitments from those same countries to phase them out.
The survey, entitled “Subsidizing Unburnable Carbon: Taxpayer Supprt for Fossil Fuel Exploration in G7 Nations”, finds that the G7 continues to spend at least $8 billion USD annually on ‘national subsidies’ for the expansion of oil, gas, and coal reserves through direct subsidies and an additio nal $10 billion USD or more annually on ‘public financing’ from government banks and institutions for fossil fuels as well.
The report can be found here: http://bit.ly/g7fossilsubsidies
“The richest countries in the world have a responsibility to lead the charge on climate solutions, yet they continue to fund the climate crisis with billions in public money each year. Science is telling us we already have four times more fossil fuels than we can afford to burn, yet these subsidies are using taxpayer dollars to increase our exposure to the climate crisis, “ said Stephen Kretzmann, Executive Director of Oil Change International.
Among other notable findings, the study shows that the United States government alone provides $5.1 billion in national subsidies to fossil fuel exploration each year. Additionally, the report shows that the United Kingdom has introduced new subsidies incentivising the exploration of fossil fuels in recent years, despite commitments to the contrary.
“Given that the world already has significantly more fossil fuel reserves than it can afford to burn, it makes no sense to use public funds to incentivize prospecting for more unburnable carbon,” said Shakuntala Makhijani, Researcher at Oil Change International and author of the report. “It’s time our governments stop using our money to buy the shovels that are digging our climate hole even deeper.”
For more information on fossil fuel subsidies, see the Oil Change International fossil fuel subsidies resource page here: http://oilchange.org/fossil-fuel-subsidies
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