Fossil fuels subsidised by $10 million every minute, according to IMF

• 9 years ago (2015-05-18)
• Junior Isles

Asia 892 Europe 1089 North America 1021

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A startling new report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has today stated that fossil fuel companies receive some £3.4 trillion ($5.3 trillion) in subsidies each year – which is equivalent to nearly $10 million every day.

Lord Nicholas Stern, a climate economist at the London School of Economics, said: “This very important analysis shatters the myth that fossil fuels are cheap by showing just how huge their real costs are. There is no justification for these enormous subsidies for fossil fuels, which distort markets and damage economies, particularly in poorer countries.”

Stern went even further to say: “A more complete estimate of the costs due to climate change would show the implicit subsidies for fossil fuels are much bigger even than this report suggests.”

The IMF, one of the world’s most respected financial institutions, said that cutting the subsidies to fossil fuels would cut carbon emissions by 20 per cent as well as on the ongoing process of global warming.
Ending subsidies would also slash the number of premature deaths from outdoor air pollution by 50 per cent – around 1.6 million lives a year.

Coal-fired power stations are the biggest source of air pollution, and China, with its heavy reliance on coal power, is responsible for $2.3 trillion of the annual subsidiaries. The US is the next biggest ($700 billion), then Russia ($335 billion), India ($277 billion), Japan ($157 billion) and the European Union ($330 billion).