World Funds Own Destruction With $1.8 Tn Subsidies: Study
upstart writes:
World funds own destruction with $1.8 tn subsidies: study:
The world must slash $1.8 trillion in annual subsidies that destroy the environment, according to a study Thursday from business groups including one founded by tycoon Richard Branson.
[...] The vast subsidies, totalling two percent of global GDP, fund the "global destruction of nature" and governments worldwide must act, the two organisations added in a statement.
The study "finds the fossil fuel, agriculture and water industries receive more than 80 percent of all environmentally harmful subsidies per year", the organisations concluded.
And they called upon governments to "redirect, repurpose or eliminate" those subsidies by 2030 to help "finance a net zero global economy".
[...] "Nature is declining at an alarming rate, and we have never lived on a planet with so little biodiversity," said Christiana Figueres, head of The B Team's climate working group.
"At least $1.8 trillion is funding the destruction of nature and changing our climate, while creating huge risks for the very businesses who are receiving the subsidies."
She added that "harmful subsidies must be redirected towards protecting the climate and nature, rather than financing our own extinction".
Here's a high-level list of the top three and what they support:
- $640 billion: fossil fuels (climate change, air and water pollution, etc.)
- $520 billion: agriculture (soil erosion; water pollution, etc.)
- $350 billion: water industry (water pollution; risk to ocean and aterway ecosystems)
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