Some of the world’s largest economies are spending billions each year to find new regions to drill, frack and mine for fossil fuels, according to a new report.
The report, published Tuesday by Oil Change International and British think tank Overseas Development Institute (ODI), found that G20 nations — a group of major developed and developing economies that includes the U.S., China, India and the E.U. — are spending $88 billion annually on fossil fuel exploration. That’s more than double the $37 billion spent on fossil fuel exploration — a term that includes finding new reserves of fossil fuels as well as expanding existing drilling and mining sites — by the world’s largest 20 oil and gas companies in 2013. It’s also almost double the investment that the International Energy Agency says is needed to power the world by 2030.
The U.S. is among the top funders of fossil fuel exploration in the G20, providing $5.1 billion to the effort in 2013 — nearly double the amount the country spent in 2013. The report notes that efforts to cut fossil fuel subsidies have been made in the U.S., but none have gotten off the ground: Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) introduced legislation in 2012 that would have eliminated tax breaks for five major oil companies, but the bill was defeated. President Obama has also proposed cutting certain fossil fuel subsidies in budgets he’s submitted to Congress, but none have been voted on.
While the U.S. gambles big on fossil fuels, it spends less on energy research than many experts say is necessary to find new ways to tackle climate change. And according to the report, the U.S. should be spending more on renewable energy if it wants to attract more investment: every dollar of renewable energy subsidies in the U.S. attracts $2.5 in investment, compared to the $1.3 of investment every dollar of fossil fuel subsidies draws.
ODI has documented the world’s investment in fossil fuels before. Last year, the think tank found that governments around the world spent $500 billion on fossil fuel subsidies in 2011.
— source thinkprogress.org