environmentally harmful subsidies

Fossil subsidies take the bulk of finance needed for an inclusive renewable energy sector

The world is spending at least $1.8-trillion every year, equivalent to 2% of GDP, on subsidies that are destroying nature, new research released on Thursday has found. 

The study, titled Protecting Nature by Reforming Environmentally Harmful Subsidies: The Role of Business, was co-funded by The B Team and Business for Nature, and is the first estimate in 10 years of the total value of environmentally harmful subsidies (EHS) across key sectors including energy, agriculture, transport and forestry.

El mundo financia su propia extinción: se gastan billones en subsidios que impulsan el calentamiento global

El estudio, publicado por The B Team y Business for Nature, analiza los conocidos como subsidios ambientalmente dañinos (EHS, por sus siglas en inglés), enmarcados en los programas gubernamentales de distintos países. Unas ayudas dirigidas, en definitiva, a provocar daños en el medioambiente. Desde la exención de impuestos para producir carne en el Amazonas hasta el apoyo a la extracción desmedida de agua en Oriente Medio.

Global nature pact urged to reform harmful subsidies of $1.8 trln a year

Subsidies that are harming ecosystems, wildlife and the climate amount to nearly $2 trillion a year, researchers said on Thursday, calling for the subsidies to be reformed under talks on a global nature pact due to be agreed in the coming months.

The researchers found that annually the fossil fuel industry receives $640 billion in support and environmentally harmful agricultural activities get $520 billion, while $350 billion flows to unsustainable freshwater use and the management of water and wastewater infrastructure.

Identifying and assessing subsidies and other incentives harmful to biodiversity: A comparative review of existing national-level assessments and insights for good practice

Despite calls for the reform of incentives, including subsidies, harmful to biodiversity, including under the Convention on Biological Diversity and its 2011-2020 Aichi Targets, very few countries to date have undertaken what is considered the first step in this process, namely, to identify and assess the types and magnitudes of any incentives in place at the national level which are harmful for biodiversity or the environment more broadly.

Fossil fuel and agriculture handouts climb to $1.8tn a year, study says

Governments worldwide are spending at least $1.8tn a year on subsidies in support of heavily polluting industries led by coal, oil, gas and agriculture, according to new research, despite their commitment to climate change targets. 

About 2 per cent of global gross domestic product was spent annually on subsidies that encourage unsustainable production or consumption, deplete natural resources and degrade ecosystems, the independent researchers Doug Koplow and Ronald Steenblik concluded. 

World spends $1.8tn a year on subsidies that harm environment, study finds

The world is spending at least $1.8tn (£1.3tn) every year on subsidies driving the annihilation of wildlife and a rise in global heating, according to a new study, prompting warnings that humanity is financing its own extinction.

From tax breaks for beef production in the Amazon to financial support for unsustainable groundwater pumping in the Middle East, billions of pounds of government spending and other subsidies are harming the environment, says the first cross-sector assessment for more than a decade.

Harmful subsidies: why is the world still funding the destruction of nature?

Government incentives will play an important role in reconciling the competing demands on our planet’s resources. But new research reveals at least $1.8tn (£1.3tn) of environmentally harmful subsidies is heading in the wrong direction every year, financing the annihilation of wildlife and global heating through support for cattle ranching, pesticide use, the overproduction of crops and fossil fuel extraction...

Subsidies and their discontents, podcast on the Cosmopolitan Globalist

Ron Steenblik and Doug Koplow join the Cosmopolicast (part of the Cosmopolitan Globalist) and hosts Claire Berlinski and Vivek Y. Kelkar for an hour of discussion about energy subsidies and environmentally-harmful subsidies. How did we end up working on this issue? How big are they? How can people better understand the opaque, perverse, and often counterproductive nature of energy subsidies?

Collaboration across sectors needed

Translating the complexities of our government subsidies report into an accessible and inspiring summary and call to action is no easy task. This video, commissioned by Business for Nature and The B Team, does a great job.