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G20 nations provide four times more public financing to fossil fuels than to renewable energy

Guardian 5th July 2017,The G20 nations provide four times more public financing to fossil fuels
than to renewable energy, a report has revealed ahead of their summit in
Hamburg, where Angela Merkel has said climate change will be at the heart
of the agenda.

The authors of the report accuse the G20 of “talking out of
both sides of their mouths” and the summit faces the challenge of a
sceptical US administration after Donald Trump pulled out of the global
Paris agreement

The public finance comes in the form of soft loans and
guarantees from governments, and, along with huge fossil fuel subsidies,
makes coal, oil and gas plants cheaper and locks in carbon emissions for
decades to come.

But scientists calculate that to keep global warming below 2C, most fossil fuel reserves must be kept in the ground, requiring a major shift of investment to clean energy. The new report by a coalition of NGOs
found that the G20 countries provided $71.8bn of public finance for fossil-fuel projects between 2013-2015, compared with just $18.7bn for renewable energy. Japan provided the most at $16.5bn, which was six times
more than it allotted for renewables.  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/05/g20-public-finance-for-fossil-fuels-is-four-times-more-than-renewables

July 7, 2017 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, climate change