AUSSIE, U.S. COAL SUBSIDIES BLOCK ENERGY TRANSITION

Coal subsidies blocking clean energy rollout, study claims; Subsidies for coal production are increasing emissions and acting as a barrier to clean energy, Carbon Tracker warns

Madeleine Cuff, 18 September 2015 (Business Green)

“Billions of pounds worth of subsidies are spent every year by the US and Australian governments to prop up [their countries’] coal industries, distorting the energy market and slowing the rollout of cleaner energy sources [according to Assessing Thermal Coal Production Subsidies. It] details how generous subsidies paid to thermal coal producers in two of the world's key supply regions - Australia and the Powder River Basin in the US - are hampering the transition to lower carbon sources of energy…[and] reveals that subsidy payouts amount to US$8 per tonne in the Powder River Basin, equivalent to US$2.9bn per year, and US$4 per tonne in Australia, equivalent to US$1.3bn per year…Scrapping the subsidies in the United States would reduce coal demand by up to 29 per cent by 2035 and cut emissions by between 0.7 and 2.5 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide - the equivalent to removing between nine and 32 coal plants…[T]he removal of Australian subsidies would cut demand for Australian seaborne coal by between three and seven per cent…” click here for more

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