Fossil fuel subsidies hit $1.3 trillion despite government pledges to end them: The report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) looked at both
explicit and implicit subsidies for fossil fuels across 170 countries.
It found explicit subsidies alone have more than doubled since the
previous IMF assessment, rising from $500 billion in 2020 to $1.3
trillion in 2022 as governments rushed to mitigate the inflationary
impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the spike in demand caused by
the economic recovery from Covid-19. Those subsidies are direct
monetary support for fossil fuels through activities like regulated
prices set below international levels and energy bill rebates.
IMF also calculates implicit fossil fuel subsidies, which include the
cost of things such as undercharging for environmental costs and
failing to levy taxes on consumption. Adding those in and the total
subsidies ballooned to $7 trillion in 2022. That’s an increase of $2
trillion compared to 2020.
As Canada Burns, Danielle Smith Does Event with Activist Who Says Climate ‘Not a Crisis’
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is headlining an oil and gas industry event this week alongside a U.S. “fossil fuels advocate” named Alex Epstein who says that human-caused climate change is “not a crisis” and that rising global temperatures are only “a minor variable” in out-of-control wildfires.
Epstein and Smith are both speaking at the Energy Business Forum, part of a conference hosted by the Canadian Energy Executive Association. It is being held in the mountain resort town of Banff, Alberta, only several hundred kilometres from Kelowna, where thousands of people recently fled their homes due to severe wildfires that scientists say are being intensified by climate change.
The conference, which includes an “Oilmen’s Golf Tournament,” as well as a “a fun Mardi Gras-themed costume party,” is touted by organizers as “bringing together industry leaders and their partners, government, academia and Indigenous partners to meet and discuss important topics affecting our industry and its future.”
“I’m deeply concerned that this conference, and the organizers of this conference, have decided to double down on denialism at a time when the evidence of climate change is staring at us right in the face,” Sean Holman, a professor of climate and environmental journalism at the University of Victoria, told DeSmog. |Read more https://www.desmog.com/2023/08/24/premier-danielle-smith-does-event-with-denier-who-says-climate-not-a-crisis-wildfires/|
#DanielleSmith #AlexEpstein #ClimateDenial #oilmen #kelowna #abpoli #ExtremeWeather #floods #wildfires