Fossil fuel subsidies are a brake on emissions reduction
Notes: Scientists urge that the world needs to move full steam ahead with the transition to a low carbon economy. Countries are implementing policies and rolling out renewables at a great rate.
But the International Energy Agency points out that fossil fuel subsidies act like a massive hand brake on this transition.
According to IEA research, 37 governments spent $409bn on artificially lowering the price of fossil fuels in 2010. Critics say the subsidies significantly boost oil and gas consumption and disadvantage renewable energy technologies, which received only $66bn of subsidies in the same year.
Fatih Birol and the IEA said that a phase-out would avoid 750m tonnes of CO2 a year by 2015, potentially rising to 2.6 gigatonnes by 2035, a level sufficient to provide half the emissions reductions needed to limit global warming to 2C, considered the limit of safety by many scientists.
“Fossil fuel subsidies are a hand brake as we drive along the road to a sustainable energy future,” he said. “Removing them would take us half way to a trajectory that would hold us to 2C.”
Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2012/01/29/cutting-climate-change-is-simple-just-stop-subsidising-fossil-fuels/
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In 2010, 37 governments spent $409bn on artificially lowering the price of fossil fuels, according to the International Energy Agency. This makes fossil fuels cheaper and slows down the transition to low-emission alternatives.
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