Forbid subsidies for fossil-based energy
Margaret Thatcher did it in Britain in the mid-1980s, when she removed subsidies from unprofitable coal mines. Today, the American president, Barack Obama is following in her footsteps in asking the G20 countries to join him in forbidding the subsidy of coal, oil and gas.
The world spends about 300 billion dollars a year on subsidising petrol. Consumption rises because the prices are artificially low, and emissions are therefore greater than necessary. Removing such subsidies by 2020 will reduce global CO2 emission by ten percent within 2050, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the OECD.
