US and Australian taxpayers pay billions a year to fund coal – report

Ending subsidies, that amount to almost a quarter of the sale price in some cases, would hugely reduce carbon emissions, new research reveals

Coal subsidies are costing US and Australian taxpayers billions of dollars a year, according to a new report.

The research examined the subsidies given to coal production in the US's largest coal field, the Powder River Basin, and found they totalled $2.9bn (1.9bn) a year. This equates to $8 per tonne, almost 25% of the sale price.