Dirty Energy Subsidies Still 5x More Than Pledged Climate Aid, Activists Ask #WTF?

Oil Change International released a briefing paper today at COP19 in Warsaw revealing that subsidies lavished on the fossil fuel industry by wealthy industrialized nations add up to more than five times the amount of climate finance aid the same countries have so far pledged to deliver to poorer nations to reduce their global warming emissions and adapt to manmade climate change.

Despite the fact that industrialized countries have pledged to scale up to $100 billion in annual climate aid by 2020, they are still pumping more money in the opposite direction, subsidizing fossil fuels production and consumption instead of helping the developing countries adapt and mitigate against climate change impacts. 

The G-20 has unanimously supported phasing out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies since 2009, and re-affirmed its commitment to doing so this fall, so there is no reason for this disconnect to persist, other than the powerful grip that the oil and coal industries have over many of these governments currently.

In an unrelated but congruous event yesterday at the national stadium where COP19 is taking place, activists staged a protest they dubbed #WTF – Where's the Finance – to demand accountability from countries that have failed to deliver on pledged climate finance.

Dirty Energy Subsidies Still 5x More Than Pledged Climate Aid, Activists Ask #WTF?