According to a new report, the world is spending about $2.6 trillion per year on subsidies that wreak havoc on nature and contribute to rising global temperatures.
What's happening?
The Guardian reported that Earth Track recently released an analysis showing that the amount the world is spending on environmentally harmful subsidies has increased by $800 billion (roughly $500 billion, taking into account inflation) since 2022.
This increase in spending is due to the impact of the war in Ukraine, which caused a steep uptick in dirty energy subsidies.
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The tax breaks and subsidies work directly against the goals established in the 2015 Paris Agreement (focused on limiting warming) and the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Agreement (aimed at stopping biodiversity loss). The Guardian writes that nations have provided "direct support" for deforestation, dirty fuel dependence, and water pollution.
Christiana Figueres, head of U.N. climate change framework efforts during the Paris Agreement negotiations, said: "Two years on from the signing of the landmark biodiversity plan, we continue to finance our own extinction, putting people and our resilience at huge risk."
Why are these subsidies important?
Doug Koplow and Ronald Steenblik, the authors of the Earth Track analysis, said their calculation is probably an underestimate due to low-quality data — the situation is likely worse.
"Environmentally harmful subsidies are subsidies that governments give in many different forms — not just cash — that have the result of accelerating natural resource extraction, damage to natural habitats and pollution," Koplow told the Guardian.
Of all the sectors the subsidies went to, dirty energy received the most at $1.05 trillion. Agriculture received $610 billion, and plastics got $30 billion. These and many other sector subsidies will contribute to the climate crisis, devastate biodiversity, and create more air and water pollution, per Earth Track.
What's being done about rising global temperatures?
At the United Nations Biodiversity Conference of the Parties in December 2022 (COP15), almost all of the world's governments pledged to repurpose some of the funding of these subsidies toward measures that would benefit people and nature.
At COP16 last month, there was a focus on the previous failure to meet these subsidy reform goals, as reported by the Guardian. While the world's governments continue to work out the path toward progress, there are a lot of small actions we can each take in our daily lives to combat rising global temperatures.
Recycling, cutting down on consumption by upcycling items, and upgrading our home energy efficiency are just a few things we can do to make an impact.
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