Fossil-fuel firms receive US subsidies worth $31bn each year, study finds | Fossil fuels

The United States is currently subsidizing the fossil fuel industry up to nearly $ 31 billion per year, according to a new analysis.

This figure, calculated by the environmental campaign group, the oil group has changed international, has more than doubled since 2017. And it is probably a great and eupstation, due to the difficulty of quantifying the financial gains of certain government supports and a lack of transparency and reliable data of government sources, said the group.

These documents pose a massive barrier to decarbonization, explains that the new report, that experts have long warned are necessary to avoid the worst consequences of the climate crisis.

“These subsidies allow a new production which would not occur otherwise,” said Collin Rees, American program director at Oil Change International and the main author of the new analysis. “They also, to a large extent, to align the pockets of shareholders and investors and fossil fuel frames.”

For the analysis, the change in international oil has totaled tax reductions, lower rates to acquire land and other resources, direct credits and other financial support from American groups and funded by the government, using the definition of fossil fuels subsidies established by the World Trade Organization.

All in all, subsidies in the United States allow the sector to receive superb yields of 30,000% of investments, according to the authors.

The Guardian contacted the American Petroleum Institute, the country’s fuel fuel lobbying group, to comment.

Among the largest subsidies that the United States offers oil companies, according to the report, a federal tax rule allowing companies to credit the taxes and royalties they pay to foreign governments on income abroad against their national tax bills, to avoid being imposed twice.

Another major support measure is a carbon capture tax credit, which is often formulated as a climatic solution, but is mainly used to extract difficult access reserves in a practice known as an improved oil recovery.

In the midst of the pressure of United Nations climate activists and experts, at least 53 countries reformed their fossil fuel subsidies between 2015 and 2020, according to the Swiss Research Group Global Subventues Initiative.

In 2021, Joe Biden also promised to start eliminating subsidies for the energy sources of the planet.

“Unlike previous administrations, I do not think that the federal government should give documents to Big Oil,” said Biden after its inauguration in 2021.

However, the United States is moving in the wrong direction on the issue, the new report has revealed: the Trump’s signing and expenditure bill, which the president signed in July, is about to give fossil fuel companies of $ 4 billion per year in the next decade, revealed that the analysis.

Among the largest supporters for the megabill oil industry are the credits extended for the capture of carbon and the drop in fees already under the market for the production of coal, petroleum and gas on public land. These improved supports could end up being even more precious for the petroleum industry in recent years, says Rees.

Another provision of the bill, for which the oil companies have pressure, can allow these companies to avoid the minimum tax tax that Biden established during its presidency.

Rediscuss all subsidies with American fossil fuels to social programs could considerably improve life for ordinary Americans, indicates the report, for example by offering 3 million families instantaneous advantages each year, by helping 54 million households to install solar panels in a decade, or by sending 3 million children to start early learning programs.

Although supporting the American government with fossil fuels are esoteric and complex, they have massive implications for the country’s relations with polluting energy companies, said Rees.

“We are dealing with technical legislative languages ​​and the components of the tax code, but despite this, I think it is important to understand that subsidies are political declarations,” he said. “These are political choices on what we choose to support as a country.”