The G20 poured $1trn into fossil fuel subsidies last year

‘There is little incentive for them [fossil fuel companies] to change their business models in line with what’s needed to limit global warming, but governments have the power to push them in the right direction,’ asserts Tara Laan, a senior associate of the IISD.

Fossil fuel subsidies have increased by 475% since 2010, largely propelled by social and political necessity. It’s understandable that both the pandemic and the invasion of Ukraine prompted governments to intervene in the costs of fuel and capping energy bills, but there has to be an end in sight.

The IISD has called – no doubt on deaf ears – for G20 leaders to end fossil fuel subsidies in rich countries by 2025 and in the rest by 2030.

In the meantime, it states that energy subsidies should be used to protect the nations most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. This is a far cry from the current reality, in which three-quarters inexplicably go to fossil fuels.

‘By re-purposing wasteful subsidies, we can free up significant sums that could instead be used to address some of the planet’s most pressing challenges,’ says Richard Damania, chief economist of sustainability at the World Bank.

As first order of business for the G20 moving forward, he IISD recommends that a higher carbon tax of between $25-75 per ton of greenhouse gas emissions be introduced to raise an extra $1trn a year.

We’re not holding our breaths, in the metaphorical sense anyway.