fossil fuel subsidies

Climate activists block A12 in The Hague for eighth day in a row; removed by police

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https://nltimes.nl/2023/09/16/climate-activists-block-a12-hague-eighth-day-row-removed-police

The estimated several hundred climate activists who blocked the A12 highway in The Hague on Saturday have been removed from the road by the police.

Several hundred climate activists are blocking the A12 highway in The Hague on Saturday for the eighth day in a row. They are protesting against government measures that support the fossil fuel industry. The Police used water cannons after some time.

dizzy: Extinction Rebellion NL have blocked the A12 at the Hague on previous occasions. The current programme of ongoing protests is to demand that the Dutch government stops it’s huge fossil fuel subsidies. They have blocked the A12 daily since last Saturday with the police using water cannon to clear them and reporting minors to the Dutch equivalent of Social Services for protesting. The following video is at least a day old and so does not cover today’s protest.

https://youtu.be/X9O_WbEbTsg

Even more subsidies for fossil fuels than previously assumed, up to €46 billion annually

Image of loads of money
Image of loads of money

Even more subsidies and tax breaks are flowing into the fossil sector than previously assumed. According to a calculation by the Ministry of Economy and Climate, these amount to 39.7 to 46.4 billion euros annually. This is stated in the documents that will be released on Budget Day, September 19.

Insiders confirm corresponding reports from NOS. This is only a sum of all the benefits of the use of fossil energy and raw materials. It does not include, however, the cost to consumers. The report also states that a large part of the benefits (about 17 billion) is specified in international treaties or European Union directives.

A recent research report by SOMO, Oil Change International, and Milieudefensie already came to a total of 37.5 billion euros. Outgoing Minister Rob Jetten (Climate and Energy) said at the time that this amount sounded familiar. In general, Jetten wants to eliminate fossil fuel rebates.

According to NOS, this affects large steel companies, coal-fired power plants, greenhouse nurseries, inland shipping and oil refineries. Airlines, for example, do not have to pay kerosene tax in the Netherlands, which earns them more than 2 billion euros per year.

In recent years, fossil benefits have also disappeared. According to Jetten, phasing out fossil fuel perks can’t be done in one swoop. There has to be a phase-out plan for that, he says. “In this way we say goodbye to the old economy and create space for new jobs and prosperity,” he posted on X. For a long time, it was unclear how many subsidies and tax breaks went to the fossil fuel sector.

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Continue ReadingClimate activists block A12 in The Hague for eighth day in a row; removed by police

Climate protestors block Hague highway for third day; 3,000 arrests so far

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https://nltimes.nl/2023/09/11/climate-protestors-block-hague-highway-third-day-3000-arrests-far

Police used water canons to disperse Extinction Rebellion protesters blocking the A12 highway in The Hague, 9 September 2023 - Credit: Extinction Rebellion / Provided - License: All Rights Reserved
Police used water canons to disperse Extinction Rebellion protesters blocking the A12 highway in The Hague, 9 September 2023 – Credit: Extinction Rebellion / Provided – License: All Rights Reserved

By 2:00 p.m., there were no more protesters blocking the highway.

A few dozen Extinction Rebellion (XR) activists walked onto the A12 in The Hague around noon on Monday, blocking the highway in both directions for the third consecutive day. The climate action group intends to block the Utrechtsebaan, as the stretch of highway is known, every day until the Dutch government stops subsidizing fossil fuels. The police have arrested around 3,000 protesters since Saturday, and more arrests are expected to follow today.

The police ordered the protesters to get off the highway and hold their demonstration elsewhere, but like on the weekend, they gave no heed, according to AD. The Hague mayor Jan van Zanen, therefore, gave the police the go-ahead to clear the protesters off the highway.

At 12:30 p.m., the police started using water canons and arresting activists. Police officers physically removed activists from the highway and loaded them into buses to go to a police station in batches. By 1:00 p.m., most activists had been removed, and one lane of the highway reopened to traffic.

At 01:57 p.m., there were no more protesters blocking the highway, AD reported. At 02.23 p.m., it was announced that the highway was being cleaned and would soon be reopened to traffic in both directions.

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“Every day all over the world, and especially in the Global South, people are dying because of climate disasters that our government is paying for,” XR spokesperson Tessel Hofstede said after Saturday’s protest. “This has to stop now. That is why we will keep coming back every day at noon until all fossil fuel subsidies are eliminated.”

A recent study by OMO, Oil Change International, and Milieudefensie showed that the Dutch government misses out on 37.5 billion euros in income yearly due to schemes that favor using fossil fuels. And that while there is overwhelming scientific evidence that greenhouse gases from fossil fuels are the leading cause of global warming.

https://nltimes.nl/2023/09/11/climate-protestors-block-hague-highway-third-day-3000-arrests-far

Continue ReadingClimate protestors block Hague highway for third day; 3,000 arrests so far

Fossil fuels being subsidised at rate of $13m a minute, says IMF

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/aug/24/fossil-fuel-subsidies-imf-report-climate-crisis-oil-gas-coal

Oil, gas and coal benefited from $7tn in support in 2022 despite being primary cause of climate crisis

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

Fossil fuels benefited from record subsidies of $13m (£10.3m) a minute in 2022, according to the International Monetary Fund, despite being the primary cause of the climate crisis.

The IMF analysis found the total subsidies for oil, gas and coal in 2022 were $7tn (£5.5tn). That is equivalent to 7% of global GDP and almost double what the world spends on education. Countries have pledged to phase out subsidies for years to ensure the price of fossil fuels reflects their true environmental costs, but have achieved little to date.

Explicit subsidies, which cut the price of fuels for consumers, doubled in 2022 as countries responded to the higher energy prices resulting from Russia’s war in Ukraine. Rich households benefited far more from these than poor ones, the IMF said. Implicit subsidies, which represent the “enormous” costs of the damage caused by fossil fuels through climate change and air pollution, made up 80% of the total.

Ending the subsidies should be the centrepiece of climate action, the IMF said, and would put the world on track to restrict global heating to below 2C, as well as preventing 1.6 million air pollution deaths a year and increasing government revenues by trillions of dollars. The researchers acknowledged that subsidy reform was politically difficult, but said carefully designed policies that supported poorer households could work, especially if coordinated internationally.

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environment/2023/aug/24/fossil-fuel-subsidies-imf-report-climate-crisis-oil-gas-coal

Continue ReadingFossil fuels being subsidised at rate of $13m a minute, says IMF