The good news: Every country on Earth except the United States and the Holy See just committed to 23 targets intended to put the world on a path toward living in harmony with nature by 2050.
The bad news: The tepid agreement is two years late and $670 billion short of what’s needed.
Global leaders have agreed to protect and restore a third of the Earth's natural areas, and eliminate or redirect $500 billion from environmentally harmful subsidies to fund the deal...
Governments globally are providing at least $1.8 trillion per year that’s contributing to the destruction of ecosystems, climate change and species extinction, according to research from a group called the B Team and Business for Nature.1
Gas is more expensive than ever before — but it’s not just at the pump where we are taking the hit. What many don’t know is Canadians are also paying more for gas through our tax dollars. And when we consider the environmental impacts, that cost is even greater.
In fact, as we waste time complaining about how much it costs to fill our tanks, the Canadian government is busy pumping billions of our tax dollars into fuelling global warming. By subsidizing not only oil and gas but also animal agriculture and other harmful industries, we’re essentially financing our own destruction.
Roberts' review of various estimates of US subsidies to fossil fuels included a section, excerpted below, on the analysis jointly done by SEI and Earth Track that was published in Nature Energy in 2017:
..."The effects of consumption subsidies are fairly well-understood, as it is fairly easy to aggregate consumer decisions and find patterns. But the effects of production subsidies are trickier to pin down; it is difficult to tie particular background subsidies to particular investment decisions by producers.
..."Dominion Resources began work in October at Cove Point, the shipping terminal that the company plans to convert into an export facility for natural gas. The ambitious $3.8 billion project will involve about a thousand workers a year over several years.
"A package of legislation that represents a last chance to avoid severe climate crisis impacts was dramatically defanged late last week by conservative West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin...
Despite Manchin’s cost-conscious approach — he has demanded a reduced $1.5 trillion price tag for the bill — he has fought to preserve domestic fossil fuel industry subsidies. On the potential repeal of international oil and gas subsidies put into place during the Trump administration, Manchin has been silent.
Excerpt, referencing Earth Track's study on EHS, done in conjunction with The B Team and Business for Nature:
"A few decades ago, huge subsidies meant vast swathes of the country’s marginal land was cleared for grazing, fertilizer was overused, and the sheep population boomed to the point where surplus meat had to be destroyed.
...Much of the air at COP15 was sucked up by discussions on closing that financial gap. They centered around three tense issues:
1) How much money will the world commit, in total, to biodiversity conservation each year?
2) How much of that money will wealthy nations give to developing countries?
3) Who will manage and distribute the money?
While the Climate Home News didn't credit Earth Track in it's article, our analysis of environmentally harmful subsidies played a central role in CHN's discussion of both the challenges to, and potential from, EHS reform during the COP15 deliberations. Excerpt below:
"With one week left to strike a “once-in-a-generation” deal to protect nature in Montreal, Canada, governments are split over how to stop subsidising harmful activities like unsustainable fisheries and agriculture.