In The Media
- COP15 biodiversity summit: Paving the road to extinction with good intentions
Tierra Curry
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.Capping a series…
Published: Dec 24, 2022
- The world has a new plan to save nature. Here’s how it works — and how it could fail.
Benji Jones
...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)…
Published: Dec 19, 2022
- In Montreal, world strikes 'historic' deal to protect nature
Tim Schauenberg
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...Reducing the subsidies given to industries that harm the environment was also a crucial part of the COP15…
Published: Dec 19, 2022
- COP15: UN pushes end to $1.8tn in subsidies linked with harm to nature
Aime Williams, Chris Campbell
The UN development chief has warned against “illogical” and “perverse” subsidies to industries estimated at $1.8tn that harm the planet, as the body pushes for a global deal to reverse the widespread destruction of nature...Speaking to the Financial Times from Montreal, Achim Steiner, the…
Published: Dec 18, 2022
- UN biodiversity talks aim to strike deal protecting third of planet
Aime Williams
Negotiators have proposed targets to protect roughly one-third of the planet as part of UN talks aimed at striking a global deal to reverse the destruction of nature...As well as setting out conservation goals, the draft text proposes tripling the amount of international finance by 2030, pledging $…
Published: Dec 18, 2022
- Governments split on ditching nature-harming subsidies in Montreal
Sebastian Rodriguez
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…
Published: Dec 12, 2022
- Restoring nature could depend on how countries help farmers
Jack Graham
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…
Published: Nov 30, 2022
- By subsidizing industries like oil and gas, we are essentially financing our own destruction
Jenny Henry
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…
Published: Mar 25, 2022
- Investors can help stop subsidies that are destroying biodiversity
Christopher Walker
During the 2010 UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Conference, 190 countries committed to phasing out or reforming subsidies harmful to biodiversity by 2020.However, a study by The B Team supported by Business for Nature, the first in over a decade to provide an estimate of the total value…
Published: Mar 3, 2022
- El mundo financia su propia extinción: se gastan billones en subsidios que impulsan el calentamiento global
Irene Asiaín
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…
Published: Feb 23, 2022
- Fossil subsidies take the bulk of finance needed for an inclusive renewable energy sector
Tunicia Phillips
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…
Published: Feb 18, 2022
- Fossil fuel and agriculture handouts climb to $1.8tn a year, study says
Camilla Hodgson
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…
Published: Feb 17, 2022
- Chaque jour, le secteur des énergies fossiles reçoit plus de 1,7 milliard de dollars de subventions
Une nouvelle étude publiée ce 17 février révèle l'ampleur, au niveau mondial, de l'impact des subventions publiques dont l'application est contraire à la sauvegarde de l'environnement. Ce travail estime qu"au moins 1.800 milliards de dollars" de subventions publiques - 2% du PIB mondial - sont à l'…
Published: Feb 17, 2022
- The world spends 6,000 times more on environmentally harmful subsidies than on carbon offsets
Aurora Almendral
Carbon offsets—the money polluting business spend on projects that benefit the environment—have been growing in recent years, but it’s a long way from catching up to the money governments spend supporting businesses that are harmful to the environment.A report (pdf) published on Feb. 16 by Earth…
Published: Feb 17, 2022
- Global nature pact urged to reform harmful subsidies of $1.8 trln a year
Michael Taylor
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…
Published: Feb 17, 2022
- Governments Need to Redirect Funds to Protect Nature, Study Says
Natasha White
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.[fn]Though attributing The B Team and Business for Nature as…
Published: Feb 17, 2022
- Harmful subsidies: why is the world still funding the destruction of nature?
Patrick Greenfield
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…
Published: Feb 17, 2022
- World spends $1.8tn a year on subsidies that harm environment, study finds
Patrick Greenfield
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…
Published: Feb 16, 2022
- Sen. Joe Manchin Has Been Fighting to Keep Billions in Subsidies for Fossil Fuel Industry
Alleen Brown
"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…
Published: Oct 22, 2021
- US Subsidies Boost Expected Profits And Development Of New Oil And Gas Fields
Eurasia Review
Researchers at the Stockholm Environment Institute (Somerville and Seattle, USA) and Earth Track, Inc. (Cambridge, MA, USA) examined 16 subsidies and environmental regulatory exemptions, providing one of the first estimates of how government subsidies will affect investment decisions for new gas…
Published: Aug 1, 2021