As world leaders converge on New York for a United Nations gathering that’s expected to have a strong emphasis on climate change, the OECD is pointing out 800 ways rich industrial nations support fossil fuels with taxpayer money, along with a handful of countries that are catching up quickly.
The measures were worth $167 billion last year for the oil, natural gas and coal industries, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a Paris-based institution that advises 34 industrial nations. While that number has fallen from almost $200 billion in 2012, it easily exceeds the value of subsidies for renewables such as wind and solar.
The findings released Monday are designed to stimulate debate on what constitutes fair support for energy technologies. World leaders including U.S. President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping are attempting to ratchet up ambitions for a global deal reducing greenhouse gas pollution. The UN-organized negotiations are expected to yield an international agreement in Paris in December. The OECD report suggests policy makers burrow into their own tax and spending measures for a solution.
“We’re totally schizophrenic,” Angel Gurria, the OECD’s secretary-general, said at a press conference in Paris on Monday. “We’re trying to reduce emissions, and we subsidize the consumption of fossil fuels. These policies are not obsolete, they’re dangerous legacies of a bygone era when pollution was viewed as a tolerable side effect of economic growth. They should be erased from the books.”
The report covered OECD member nations plus six developing economies outside the group — Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Russia and South Africa. It expands on a 2013 assessment and on the work of the International Energy Agency, which put the cost of fossil fuel subsidies at $548 billion in 2013, down 25 percent from the year before.
Biggest Subsidizers
The IEA report includes countries from the Middle East and Africa such as Qatar, Iran and Nigeria that top other rankings of big subsidizers. It looked at how consumer prices vary from market prices, while the OECD looked specifically at measures in national budgets that support fossil fuels.
“If other developing countries were included, then the total would be much higher,” said Angus McCrone, senior analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance in London. “The reassuring point from the OECD report is that although it found attempts to reduce fossil-fuel subsidies running into inertia, it also concluded that support is now on a downward trend.”
Renewable energy subsidies rose 15 percent to $121 billion in 2013 and may rise to $230 billion by 2030, according to an IEA report released last year.
The measures counted by the OECD covered some of the most obscure pieces of national tax codes — including direct controls on gasoline prices, depreciation allowances for oil drillers, breaks for refiners, credits for infrastructure like pipelines and stimulus for technology to clean up coal emissions.
‘People Are Outraged’
“People are outraged when they find out that their tax dollars are being used to prop up the richest industry on the planet,” said Jamie Henn, strategy director at 350.org, the campaign group founded by environmentalist Bill McKibben to urge investors to divest from high-polluting industries. “Funding fossil fuels is like buying up typewriters at the dawn of the computer age.”
Oil and oil products reaped 82 percent of the support, according to the OECD, with coal collecting 8 percent and gas 10 percent. A plunge in crude oil prices reduced some of the cost of subsidies.
More important were measures taken in India, China, Mexico and Indonesia, as well as most industrial nations, to reduce handouts to forms of energy that produce significant amounts of pollution. India saved 200 billion rupees ($3 billion) from 2012 to 2014 by slashing subsidies for diesel. Indonesia reduced consumer aid for electricity and motor fuels that ate up a fifth of its spending as recently as 2011. In the U.S., Obama has proposed $4 billion a year of savings from reduced fossil-fuel support.
“We’re certainly not saying that all the measures are bad,” since some are targeted to help poor people afford fuel they need, Jehan Sauvage, the lead author of the OECD report, said in an interview. “The key message is to ask if this is the best use of public money. Are these measures the best way to support the goals we have?”
penury on Mon, 21st Sep 2015 3:34 pm
If the governments do not supply taxpayer money, does this mean that prices will rise to those consumers who can still afford the real cost? Or conversely will the fuel producers simply close their doors? Not being a betting person, I think I will wait.
apneaman on Mon, 21st Sep 2015 7:43 pm
Mapping the World’s Air Pollution in Real Time
A new interactive map draws data from more than 5,900 sources in nearly a thousand cities around the globe.
“Worldwide, outdoor air pollution causes more than 3 million premature deaths each year. While some cities have already reached hazardous levels of air pollution—such as Delhi, India, with smog practically covering the city daily—others are coming dangerously close. This is according to a new interactive map detailing most of the world’s air quality with real-time data.”
http://www.citylab.com/weather/2015/09/mapping-the-worlds-air-pollution-in-real-time/406411/
Davy on Mon, 21st Sep 2015 7:56 pm
Great link Ape Man. I have to say I also found it interesting Makati (Manila) has very unhealthy air.
apneaman on Mon, 21st Sep 2015 8:14 pm
Davy, yes and this affects children’s lung health and brain development. And the cornys, like boat, cheer the increase in gas usage. Hurray for sick kids and corny metrics. Only economics will stop it. Then we will go for the coal. Won’t stop because can’t stop. The limbic system drives the bus. There will be a billion boats with kids hacking their lungs out that will still rationalize the need for growth. Yabut. We will also kill the fuck out of anyone who gets in our way. Oil, water, agriculture land proxy wars are already underway. Will go hot.
Makati1 on Mon, 21st Sep 2015 9:04 pm
Yes, Ap, there is air pollution, and it is all over the world, not just in the oil countries. America has some of the worse, but you won’t hear about that. Currently, we are getting some of the smoke from the burning of forests in some S.E.Asian countries to clear land for other uses. I would guess that the Eastern US is getting the smoke from the Western fires also. Air pollution is not only the smog you can see but the other invisible gases that you don’t see, but breathe 24/7/365. Fumes from any hydrocarbon use are toxic. Fumes from most chemicals produced are toxic. Fumes given off by plastics are toxic. You cannot avoid them in this destroyed world. The quantities now in the air are slowly killing all of us everywhere.
Makati1 on Mon, 21st Sep 2015 9:06 pm
Not a peep about the largest subsidizer of US oil … the US military. $4B is only 0.4% of the US annual military budget and it’s plundering “protection” of oil for the US.
Stop buying junk you do not need, walk instead of drive, use less of everything and cut air pollution. YOU are causing it.
Makati1 on Mon, 21st Sep 2015 10:16 pm
In other news:
“Elections USA: All Republican Presidential Candidates Stand For War”
http://www.globalresearch.ca/elections-usa-all-republican-presidential-candidates-stand-for-war/5477232
“…Alas, the only message US politicians want to send to the Russians is a war message. The Pentagon has upgraded the newly orchestrated “Russian threat” to “potentially aggressive” and is updating its plans for war with Russia….”
And the war drums beat louder and louder…
Makati1 on Mon, 21st Sep 2015 10:22 pm
Update on the previous mentioned article:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/republican-warmongers-and-washingtons-policy-of-airstrike-democracy/5477410
Boat on Mon, 21st Sep 2015 10:30 pm
Feel the Burn is gaining in the polls.
Makati1 on Mon, 21st Sep 2015 10:33 pm
Do you have one of these killers in your neighborhood?
“The US’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission just cancelled its study into cancer near nuclear plants citing the ‘excessive cost’ of $8 million, writes Chris Busby. Of course that’s rubbish – similar studies in the UK have been carried out for as little as £600 per site, and in any case $8 million is small change for the NRC. The real reason is to suppress the unavoidable conclusion: nuclear power kills.”
http://www.globalresearch.ca/nuclear-power-kills-the-real-reason-the-nrc-cancelled-its-nuclear-site-cancer-study/5477413
I’m glad that the closest one to me is in Taiwan, about 600 miles north of Manila and the farm. The Ps never started up the one built during the Marcos reign. It is slowly deteriorating back into the dirt. R.I.P. ^_^
Davy on Tue, 22nd Sep 2015 1:47 am
Putin’s Plan: Moscow Handles Syria, U.S. Looks After Iraq
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-09-21/putins-plan-moscow-handles-syria-us-looks-after-iraq
I have to laugh at the anti-Americans portrayal of Putin as so goodly and peace loving. Now look at him and Russia right in the heart of the battle. I understand with boots on the ground “IN” the fight. I was told for months this was only something the evil US would do. Russia was in the highest standing as peace loving and honoring international norms.
Putin and his oligarch cabal is just as war mongering as the US military industrial complex. I don’t care to hear from the anti-American about Syria either. Russia help prop up a brutal regime for countless years. We know the Americans undoubtly have been involved in the recent destabilization. My point is this was not supposed to happen. This like many other things was not supposed to be or happen. I love the irony.
It appears from this article that far from warmongering towards Russia there appears to be a thaw in relations. Now it appears the two will unit in a new Russian and American war on terror. Imagine that anti-Americans your super hero is thinking about bedding down with the great satan itself. Irony
Davy on Tue, 22nd Sep 2015 1:50 am
Global research review
Despite presenting itself as a source of scholarly analysis, globalresearch.ca
mostly consists of polemics many of which accept (and use) conspiracy theories, pseudoscience and propaganda.
Apparently, contributors to globalresearch.ca consider information sourced from anyone who seems aligned to their ideology as reliable; during the 2011 Libyan civil war the site was an apologist for Muammar al-Gaddafi, reproducing his propaganda and painting him as a paragon of a modern leader.
Makati1 on Tue, 22nd Sep 2015 4:56 am
Have you heard?
“U.S. Will Station New Nuclear Weapons in Germany Against Russia”
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/09/u-s-will-station-new-nuclear-weapons-in-germany-against-russia.html
Who is beating the drums of war? LOL
Kenz300 on Tue, 22nd Sep 2015 7:56 am
No more WARS for OIL………….
It is time to end the love affair with fossil fuels….
Climate Change is real…. we need to deal with the cause…
apneaman on Tue, 22nd Sep 2015 7:01 pm
Oh look, a call for blood. Ok not actual blood, not yet, but it often starts like this. Wait and see what they will be calling for as the body count really starts piling up and the homes and business and employment and infrastructure is destroyed by AGW consequences. Guilt, I guess it’s all a matter of degree.
SIGN NOW: PROSECUTE EXXON FOR DELIBERATE CLIMATE DENIAL
Tell U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch:
Launch a RICO prosecution of Exxon and its fellow fossil-fuel companies for deliberate and malicious climate deception.
WILL YOU SIGN?
http://www.climatehawksvote.com/prosecute_exxon?recruiter_id=5042
Joe D on Tue, 22nd Sep 2015 10:15 pm
I signed it apneaman, thanks!
Makati1 on Tue, 22nd Sep 2015 10:39 pm
Sign? Hell, I’ll buy the bullets for the firing squad. AND clean their rifles after the event while they tap the keg I bought them. LOL
apneaman on Tue, 22nd Sep 2015 11:32 pm
They should have Rex Tillerson up on the gallows in no time. Maybe they will get all the big big evil polluting corporate apes and their lackeys.It will be like an enviro Nuremberg. Oh, I hope they live stream it. Popcorn time kids!
rockman on Wed, 23rd Sep 2015 6:55 am
Penury – I always find it amusing to see folks who are part of the primary producers of global pollution and AGW (the fossil fuel consumers) try to defect the responsibility onto anyone else but themselves. It’s like the guy who downs a half bottle of bourbon and drunkenly hits another car killing that family and then blaming the whisky maker. Or maybe even Ford Motors for making his car. LOL.
I suppose it just a result of the guilt they feel for being THE principle cause of all these problems. There’s almost no one on this site that doesn’t VOLUNTARIALLY consume much more fossil fuel resources then the average global citizen. If folks don’t like ole Rex producing oil the solution is simple: stop buying his oil and he’ll stop drilling. Easy peasy, right?
As far as to any sort of financial support the tax payers contribute to ff extraction…why not? After all they are the primary financial beneficiaries of the process. Sure the energy companies get the portion of the pie but when you add the TOTAL financial benefits of ff consumption (jobs that provide income, energy that make life bearable in many homes, etc.) that number is obviously huge. IOW if all ff extraction efforts were the cease tomorrow what would be the effect on the US economy? Devastating no doubt. Could you even come close to putting a $ value on it? Certainly that portion of the financial benefit of ff extraction going to the producers would be very small in comparison.
Of course all those who are nearly pathologically guilt ridden over their part of the process would never be able to accept what I’ve just posted. I’ve found that the emotions surround such guilt complexes are not only some of the strongest but also the most difficult for folks to abandon.
If you don’t believe just sit back and watch the responses this post receives. LOL.
Makati1 on Wed, 23rd Sep 2015 7:26 am
Rockman, pimping for the poison that is killing us is not very intelligent either. Similar to the local heroin pusher getting rich off of the addicted. Thought I would be the first in line to laugh at your refusal to take any blame. LOL
Big oil created the demand by destroying all of the alternates early on. Then brainwashing ads made it all seem necessary for a ‘good life’. Greed by the oil pushers caused the current extinction event, not the consumer forced to use their product or else.
Davy on Wed, 23rd Sep 2015 8:55 am
Shut your suck Mak. You compare to Rock like Bevis and Butthead to Einstein. The best you can do is pimp your anti-American vomit. Rock contributes you are just using this board for a pulpit for your failed American life resentment, war lust, and sick fantasies of death to Americans. Every time I read your comments I am ill and this is true with a silent majority. It is only the anti-Americans that enjoy your vomit.
rockman on Wed, 23rd Sep 2015 12:54 pm
davy – I wouldn’t be so hard on Mak. I’m sure he’s sincere despite having a very bias view. But this isn’t a pimp/druggie relationship. This is where I think he and many folks have a problem admitting to their share of the blame. You’ll notice not once have I ever denied my role in this relationship. In fact I’ve given mucho detailed accounts of my participation. What Mak and others like apneaman have t5rouble admitting is that (the consumers) are an integral part of the symbiotic relationship between the oil patch and the consumers.
Mak sights how the oil patch has sucked in the consumers. I can just as easily point out how the consumers have sucked us into producing hydrocarbons for their benefit by offering us great wealth to do so. IOW the consumers are the pimps who pay us whores to ply our trade while, just like in the real world, the pimps are ending up with most of the financial benefit of ff consumption.
I just pointed it out elsewhere: the great majority of the financial benefit of fossil fuel consumption is going to the consumers…not the producers. And I doubt you see anyone try to argue otherwise. After all how many folks on this site would be getting a paycheck if all ff consumption were the stop tomorrow?
onlooker on Wed, 23rd Sep 2015 1:07 pm
Ultimately all of civilization has benefited from fossil fuels. Yet because of the polluting nature of the hydrocarbons and the wanton disregard for protecting nature and of course because of the greenhouse effect we have reached this knifes edge. It does not help that we put all our eggs in the basket of fossil fuels. Now we are backed into a corner dammed if we stop using them dammed if we continue using them.
apneaman on Wed, 23rd Sep 2015 2:10 pm
rockman, where do you get that I “have t5rouble admitting is that (the consumers) are an integral part of the symbiotic relationship between the oil patch and the consumers.”?
Still suffering from your American left-right worldview and think the rest of the planet shares it – they don’t. It’s like whatever you read you pass through a series of mental filters and splitters that put everyone in a either or category. In spite of the fact that I have been on here for over a year with my deterministic doomer view that we are all responsible, none more than westerners, yet only following our biological programming, you still want to squeeze me into one of your categories. Thing is, one of the first things I told everyone when I showed up here was that I am as responsible as anyone due to my career choice as a Boilermaker who built and maintained some of the most nasty, planet destroying, polluting infrastructure on the planet, yet you still want to make me out to be a tree hugging greenie who is in denial of his own role. Do you know why you are compelled to keep doing this rockman? Ape paradox, causes very painful anxiety producing cognitive dissonance and the only way to alleviate it is to tell ourselves stories. You cannot handle the least bit of criticism of anything related to the oil biz and always rush to the defense, even when it is a blantely obvious they got caught lying and cheating and breaking rules – AKA law of the land. Your go to defense is always the hypocrisy defense. If anyone, in anyway ever benefited from oil, then they must forfeit any criticism of the industry (and rockman by extension) even when they clearly cheated and harmed others. Oil is God and he supersedes man’s law, thus, so do his servants. Tell yourself.