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Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) is frequently presented as a climate solution. In reality, the technology is heavily subsidized and to date has almost always been used for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) to extract additional oil from declining wells. Subsidizing EOR is a climate negative.  The 45Q tax credit is the main subsidy to CCUS and heavily supports the fossil fuel sector -- more than 90% of CO2 supply through 2050 according to US Energy Information Administration.

While nuclear power is often portrayed as an inexpensive and reliable energy source, it has never been able to economically compete with other technologies. Historically, the challenge has come from coal; today, it is coming increasingly from renewables. The cost of nuclear power has been increasing in OECD countries, mainly due to the escalating costs of new build projects. The expansion of competitive electricity markets has also contributed to economic challenges for nuclear power plants.

US oil and gas companies pay significantly more tax to foreign petrostates than to the US federal government. In a particularly stark example, ExxonMobil reported paying nearly five times as much tax to the United Arab Emirates as to the US federal government in 2023 and 2024.

The scale of federal subsidies for fossil fuel production remain staggering, at nearly $35 billion per year. The subsidies, which divert needed funds from critical social services, come in the form of tax breaks, below-market access to drilling on public lands, regulatory loopholes, direct spending to clean up the industry’s mess, and more. The report also contains the most comprehensive list to date of the more than $4 billion in new fossil fuel subsidies added this year by Congress via the "One Big Beautiful Bill" (OBBA) that passed in July.

This memo provides updated subsidy estimates and background information on three subsidies benefiting the oil and gas industry. These include 45Q tax credits for carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS); tax exemptions for Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs), used heavily by the oil and gas sector; and the federal Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The memo also highlights an emerging risk area: the use of tax-exempt corporate structures for carbon sequestration activities.

Chapter 45Q provides large tax credits for carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS). Unlike budgetary spending, these credits are uncapped and the costs to taxpayers in terms of lost federal tax revenues appears to have been greatly underestimated. Not only is the government’s financial exposure uncapped, but compliance with statutory rules is self-reported, and because tax returns are confidential under federal law (26 USC §6103), only the IRS is legally entitled to know the identities of claimants and the amounts of their claims.

The 45Q tax credit expansion for Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage, passed as part of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, dramatically increases the expected cost to taxpayers without adequate oversight or transparency to ensure fiscal integrity or program efficacy. 

The World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2024 (WNISR2024) assesses the status and trends of the international nuclear industry. Earth Track was pleased to have contributed to the report again this year, with the focus chapter Power Firming and Competitive Pressure on Nuclear Energy assessing how solar/wind + storage put increasing competitive pressures on the nuclear sector.

This interim report represents the first comprehensive attempt to identify and quantify subsidies received by the primary plastics polymer (PPP) production industry. The report specifically examines the stages of production from the processing of raw plastic materials—such as steam cracking of naphtha, isolation of alkenes from raw natural gas, and coal gasification—through to the production of basic resins and the compounding and extrusion of plastic pellets.