Axe Fuel Subsidies

Never gonna happen… but it’s worth looking at the numbers:

Getting rid of the subsidies would cut global energy demand by 5 per cent, and carbon emissions by 5.8 per cent, by 2020, the report says. Clearly, that’s only a fraction of the emissions cuts required to stave off dangerous climate change, but it’s a significant fraction – and an easy cut to make, says the IEA.

The report also argues that it is perfectly possible for everyone in the world to have access to “modern energy” sources like electricity and gas – and that this needn’t have a big impact on our emissions. This may come as a surprise to the developed world, where people have often argued that cutting their emissions would be futile if the rest of the world increased its energy use at the same time.