Efforts to combat climate change will not succeed unless the proliferation of fossil fuel subsidies are dealt with.
Speaking to RTCC’s Daniel Schweimler, David Turnbull from Oil Change International explains that subsidies distort global energy markets and encourage wasteful consumption.
This comes on the back of a recent report from the International Energy Agency, which said that Global fossil fuel subsidies grew by 30% in 2011 to $523bn, despite calls to reduce them. Renewable energy subsidies during the same period totalled $88bn.
Reassigning some of this money has been suggested as one source of climate finance for the Green Climate Fund, which has a target to raise $100bn a year by 2020.
David Turnbull, Oil Change International from Responding to Climate Change on Vimeo.