Statement by climate activist and blogger dizzy deep: We need to end Fossil Fuel Subsidies

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A statement by dizzy deep of the https://onaquietday.org blog.

Scientists protest at UK Parliament 5 September 2023.
Scientists protest at UK Parliament 5 September 2023.

Urgent action on climate is needed. To achieve this we must end fossil fuel subsidies. Fossil fuels are subsidised to the high heavens by governments worldwide. Without these subsidies, fossil fuels will stay in the ground.

Regardless of whether COP28 does this, it should be our priority as activists to end fossil fuel subsidies as soon as we are able to. Be aware that we’re dealing with slippery, oily characters. We need to make certain that all fossil fuel subsidies are ended, that no hidden ones persist.

Just Stop Oil protesting in London 6 December 2022.
Just Stop Oil protesting in London 6 December 2022.

2/12/2023 later

G7 nations pledge to end fossil fuel subsidies by 2025

IMF Fossil Fuel Subsidies Data: 2023 Update

IMF Fossil Fuel Subsidies Data: 2023 Update

Author/Editor:

Simon Black ; Antung A. Liu ; Ian W.H. Parry ; Nate Vernon

Publication Date:

August 24, 2023

Electronic Access:

Free Download. Use the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this PDF file

Disclaimer: IMF Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to encourage debate. The views expressed in IMF Working Papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management.

Summary:

This paper provides a comprehensive global, regional, and country-level update of: (i) efficient fossil fuel prices to reflect supply and environmental costs; and (ii) subsidies implied by charging below efficient fuel prices. Globally, fossil fuel subsidies were $7 trillion in 2022 or 7.1 percent of GDP. Explicit subsidies (undercharging for supply costs) have more than doubled since 2020 but are still only 18 percent of the total subsidy, while nearly 60 percent is due to undercharging for global warming and local air pollution. Differences between efficient prices and retail fuel prices are large and pervasive, for example, 80 percent of global coal consumption was priced at below half of its efficient level in 2022. Full fossil fuel price reform would reduce global carbon dioxide emissions to an estimated 43 percent below baseline levels in 2030 (in line with keeping global warming to 1.5-2oC), while raising revenues worth 3.6 percent of global GDP and preventing 1.6 million local air pollution deaths per year. Accompanying spreadsheets provide detailed results for 170 countries.

Series: Working Paper No. 2023/169

Subject: Energy subsidies Environment Expenditure Fuel prices Greenhouse gas emissions Non-renewable resources Prices

Frequency: regular

English

Publication Date: August 24, 2023

ISBN/ISSN: 9798400249006/1018-5941

Stock No: WPIEA2023169

Format: Paper

Pages: 32

Continue ReadingStatement by climate activist and blogger dizzy deep: We need to end Fossil Fuel Subsidies

FFS: Publically financed Fossil Fuel Subsidies

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Extinction Rebellion NL image reads STOP FOSSIELE SUBSIDIES
Extinction Rebellion NL image reads STOP FOSSIELE SUBSIDIES

https://www.climaterealityproject.org/blog/fossil-fuel-subsidies-public-finance

Like it or not, we’re all paying the fossil fuel industry to destroy the planet every time we do our taxes.

That’s right. Each of us is chipping in our hard-earned dollars [, Euros or Pounds], all to an industry earning billions in profits every year. One whose product is heating up our planet and sowing more and more climatic chaos the higher the thermometer rises.

We’re doing it through fossil fuel subsidies. And the time to end them is now.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), fossil fuel subsidies reached an all-time high of $7 trillion USD last year, costing the equivalent of over 7% of global GDP. To put it in more relatable terms, it’s “more than governments spend annually on education and about two thirds of what they spend on healthcare.” Fossil fuel subsidies rose by $2 trillion USD over the past two years alone.

Fossil Fuel Subsidies reached all time high of 7 trillion US Dollars

In general, most fossil fuel subsidies are implicit. This means that they fail to consider the negative externalities of fossil fuel production, such as the environmental and human health consequences of GHG emissions and particulate matter pollution. While it may seem difficult to account for these costs, the IMF estimates that implicit government subsidies resulted in failing to cover over $5 trillion worth of environmental damages last year.

https://www.climaterealityproject.org/blog/fossil-fuel-subsidies-public-finance

FFS: Publically financed Fossil Fuel Subsidies

Continue ReadingFFS: Publically financed Fossil Fuel Subsidies

Carbon Capture’s Publicly Funded Failure

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https://priceofoil.org/2023/11/29/ccs-data/

Extinction Rebellion NL image reads STOP FOSSIELE SUBSIDIES
Extinction Rebellion NL image reads STOP FOSSIELE SUBSIDIES

Summary

  • Governments have spent over $20 billion – and have approved up to $200 billion more – of public money on carbon capture and storage (CCS), providing a lifeline for the fossil fuel industry.
  • 79% of operating carbon capture capacity globally sends captured CO2 to produce more oil (via Enhanced Oil Recovery).
  • Many of the largest CCS projects in the world overpromise and under-deliver, operating far below capacity.

Carbon, Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCS or CCUS) has a 50-year history of failure. CCS is often presented as a new technology to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by trapping CO2 from a smokestack or directly from the air and then injecting it into the ground for storage. In fact, CCS was first developed in the 1970s to enhance oil production, and increased oil production remains its primary use. Oil Change International research finds that 79% of operating carbon capture capacity globally sends captured CO2 to produce more oil (via Enhanced Oil Recovery).

The story of CCS as a method to reduce CO2 emissions is one of overpromising and under-deliveringAnalysis after analysis has concluded that CCS is not a climate solution. In September 2023, the International Energy Agency noted that: “The history of CCUS has largely been one of “underperformance” and “unmet expectations.”

Yet Big Oil consistently tells us that CCS is central to the fight against climate change. Chevron, for example, says that CCS will make a “lower carbon future possible.”

In the run-up to COP28 in the United Arab Emirates, the oil industry and many governments are ramping up their promotion of CCS as an integral part of the collective response to climate change. There has been a flurry of renewed government commitments, conferences, and new industry initiatives, coupled with continuing misinformation. Governments around the world have spent over $20 billion – and have approved up to $200 billion more – of public money on CCS, providing a lifeline for the fossil fuel industry.

In October 2023, ADNOC, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, whose CEO, Sultan Al Jaber, is the COP28 President, announced that it planned to double its CCS capacity to 10 million tonnes per year. But ADNOC’s existing flagship CCS project, which is supposed to capture emissions from a steel plant, is only designed to capture around 17% of that plant’s maximum CO2 pollution. Furthermore, there is no publicly available information about how much CO2 it has actually captured. What the CCS project does capture is used to increase oil production, leading to more emissions when burned.

As governments prepare to spend up to $200 million of public money on CCS, it must be clear: CCS is a lifeline for the fossil fuel industry, not people and planet.

Subsidies

Governments have spent over $20 billion – and have legislated or announced policies that could spend up to $200 billion more – of public money on CCS, providing a lifeline for the fossil fuel industry.

Key facts

  • Ten governments have already spent at least $22 billion on CCS and Fossil-Hydrogen.
  • This number is likely very conservative due to a shocking lack of transparency on government subsidies and tax credits.
  • Twelve governments have approved policies that could funnel up to $200 billion more toward CCS and Hydrogen.

Carbon Capture Serves Oil and Gas Production

A Majority of Carbon Capture Projects Serve To Produce More Oil and Gas, Not Reduce Emissions

Data from our project’s database and analysis from leading experts such as IEEFA and others show that the majority of carbon capture (CCS) projects exist only to enable oil and gas production and fail to reduce overall emissions.

Key facts

  • 79% of operating carbon capture capacity globally sends captured CO2 to produce more oil (via Enhanced Oil Recovery)
  • 67% of operating carbon capture capacity globally captures emissions from processing CO2-rich gas.

Read this article at https://priceofoil.org/2023/11/29/ccs-data/

Continue ReadingCarbon Capture’s Publicly Funded Failure

UK Conservatives heading to elections with a growing green policy gap

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UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak denies climate change.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak denies climate change.

https://www.energymonitor.ai/policy/net-zero-policy/weekly-data-uk-conservatives-heading-to-elections-with-a-growing-green-policy-gap/

There is now a 21% share of required emissions cuts in the UK’s 2028–32 carbon budget that is not covered by policy.

Green Alliance’s Net Zero Policy Tracker analyses the gap between confirmed policy and what would be required for net zero by 2050, according to the UK’s five-yearly carbon budgets. 

At the start of 2023, there was a 13% share of required emissions cuts in the 2028–32 carbon budget that was not covered by policy. Following the government’s so-called Energy Security Day in March – which saw 2,800 pages of new energy and climate policy – the share of emissions cuts not covered by policy grew to 15%

Since Sunak’s latest speech in March, the gap has grown to 21%: a near-doubling of the gap that existed at the start of the year. 

“The Prime Minister delayed vital policies that would have lowered energy bills, increased UK energy security, and played a critical role in creating a green and growing economy,” said Chris Venables, Green Alliance’s deputy director of politics and partnerships, in a statement following Sunak’s speech. “This represents a deeply alarming pivot that has undermined business confidence, and put at serious risk the hard-won, cross-party and evidence-based approach we have had to actually reaching our legally binding net-zero targets.”

https://www.energymonitor.ai/policy/net-zero-policy/weekly-data-uk-conservatives-heading-to-elections-with-a-growing-green-policy-gap/

Continue ReadingUK Conservatives heading to elections with a growing green policy gap

BP accused of putting ‘profit before people and planet’ as fossil fuel investments revealed

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Extinction Rebellion protests at BP
Extinction Rebellion protests at BP. Banner reads big profits before planet

https://leftfootforward.org/2023/11/bp-accused-of-putting-profit-before-people-and-planet-as-fossil-fuel-investments-revealed/

The energy giant BP has been accused of prioritising its profits over people and the planet after making £2.7 billion in profit over the last quarter, while investing £2 billion in fossil fuels.

Leading think tank IPPR said now was a time when energy companies should be urgently responding to climate change, but instead BP has “doubled down on its oil and gas business to reap enormous profits.”

For every £1 BP spent on low carbon investments in the last quarter, they invested £11 in fossil fuels it was revealed. And since the energy price shock began two years ago, BP has put nine times more into fossil fuels as renewables.

BP also completed more than £14.8 billion of buybacks from surplus cash flow whilst announcing a new round of share buybacks, which will transfer £1.2 billion to shareholders.

“It’s clear that oil and gas companies are prioritising their shareholders at the expense of the transition to clean energy, so the UK government must now take the reins by investing in renewables,” said Joseph Evans, IPPR researcher.

Although BP’s profits have actually fallen on last year, when the oil company saw mega earnings following the rise in oil prices after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, £2.7 billion profit between July and September remains extremely high as organisations ask why ordinary people are still facing high energy bills.

“The government has had countless opportunities to bring down our bills and emissions. Instead, all we’ve had are weakened green policies and massive tax breaks for oil and gas giants,” Friends of the Earth responded.

https://leftfootforward.org/2023/11/bp-accused-of-putting-profit-before-people-and-planet-as-fossil-fuel-investments-revealed/

Continue ReadingBP accused of putting ‘profit before people and planet’ as fossil fuel investments revealed