Fossil fuel subsidies more than double in 2022 in G20 countries

Some 830 billion went into price support for consumers. The rest went to gas, oil and coal producers.

The G20 countries granted a record level of subsidies to fossil fuels in 2022, more than twice as much as in 2021, underlines, Tuesday, November 21, a report from BloombergNEF (BNEF) published ten days before the opening of the COP28.

In a context of soaring energy prices, the governments and public companies of these 19 states more than doubled their support for fossil fuels last year, to nearly $1.3 trillion (the G20 includes 19 states as well). as the European Union and the African Union; the study concerns only the 19 countries).

Gas, oil and coal

Some 830 billion went into price support for consumers. The rest went to gas, oil and coal producers, “even though many of them were raking in record profits” (at +84% in 2022), underlines BNEF.

In 2021, these subsidies were 583 billion, according to the group of experts, which is based on data among others from the OECD and the International Energy Agency. In 2023, these subsidies should decline slightly compared to 2022, but remain above the level of previous years, he estimates.

In detail, the share of support for coal is declining (2% of the total), or 21 billion dollars which still went to this fuel, the most harmful for the climate. The report also looks at another lever for the exit from fossils: the establishment of a carbon price, which today concerns 13 G20 countries (and is in preparation in Brazil, India and Turkey). However, “most of these programs are ineffective, due to too low a price or too generous concessions via free credits or tax exemptions”, he laments.