The G20 pledged to phase out ‘inefficient’ fossil fuel subsidies in 2009, yet new research finds that governments are spending $88 billion every year supporting exploration – more than double what the oil and gas companies are investing.
The fossil fuel bailout: G20 subsidies for oil, gas and coal exploration
Publication – November 2014
Elizabeth Bast, Shakuntala Makhijani, Sam Pickard, and Shelagh Whitley
Governments across the G20 countries are estimated to be spending $88 billion every year subsidising exploration for fossil fuels. This report documents, for the first time, the scale and structure of fossil-fuel exploration subsidies in the G20 countries. The evidence points to a publicly financed bailout for carbon-intensive companies, and support for uneconomic investments that could drive the planet far beyond the internationally agreed target of limiting global temperature increases to no more than 2ºC.
