| IEA: Fossil Fuel $550 Billion Subsidy Hampers Renewables | 24 November 14 |
The new IEA report; World Energy Outlook 2014, puts Fossil-fuel subsidies at $550 billion in 2013 – more than four-times those to renewable energy – and are holding back investment in efficiency and renewables. In the Middle East, nearly 2 million barrels a day of crude oil and oil products are used to generate electricity when, in the absence of subsidies, the main renewable energy technologies would be competitive with oil-fired power plants. More than half of the world’s fossil-fuel subsidies go to oil, and many of the subsidies are concentrated in oil- and gas-producing countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The subsidies that go to fossil fuels dwarf the subsidies for renewable energies, which the IEA put at $120 billion in 2013. The U.S. had about $27 billion in renewable subsidies in 2013, mostly going to solar PV, wind and biofuels. The International Energy Agency (IEA), an autonomous agency, was established in November 1974. Its primary mandate was – and is – two-fold: to promote energy security amongst its member countries and provide authoritative research and analysis on ways to ensure reliable, affordable and clean energy for its 29 member countries and beyond.
View November 17, 2014 Energy Matters blog post |
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