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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/sep/18/spending-subsidies-environment-deforestation-pollution-fossil-fuels-aoe>
"The world is spending at least $2.6tn (£2tn) a year on subsidies that drive
global heating and destroy nature, according to new analysis.
Governments continue to provide billions of dollars in tax breaks, subsidies
and other spending that directly work against the goals of the 2015 Paris
climate agreement and the 2022 Kunming-Montreal agreement to halt biodiversity
loss, the research from the organisation Earth Track found, with countries
providing direct support for deforestation, water pollution and fossil fuel
consumption.
Examples include state support for large fishing vessels that drive
overfishing, and government policies that subsidise petrol, synthetic
fertilisers and monoculture crop production.
The report found that the annual total of environmentally harmful subsidies has
increased by more than $800bn – or $500bn when adjusted for inflation – since
the authors last published an analysis in 2022. The increase was driven by the
consequences of the war in Ukraine, which caused fossil fuel subsidies to
increase sharply.
Christiana Figueres, who was UN climate change head during the Paris agreement
negotiations, said environmentally harmful subsidies were an existential issue
and governments urgently needed to provide policy coherence on the environment.
“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.
Estimates are higher than previously thought – with at least $2.6tn now funding
the destruction of nature, endangering the chances of meeting our nature and
climate goals,” she said.
The report’s authors, who are leading experts on subsidies, said a significant
proportion of the $2.6tn – which is equivalent to about 2.5% of global GDP –
could be repurposed for policies that benefit people and nature. Nearly all the
world’s governments pledged to do this as part of the UN Kunming-Montreal
biodiversity agreement at Cop15 in December 2022."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
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mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
