End Fossil Fuel Subsidies

Facts by Issue Frame

+ Equity and Environmental Justice

• The impacts of the fossil fuel economy are disproportionately felt by communities of color, and half of those within 3 miles of a Superfund site are people of color.
• On a global scale, fossil fuel subsidies are regressive, disproportionately benefiting the wealthy. An estimated 61% of gasoline subsidies accrue to the top 20% of income earners, while the bottom 20% receives just 3%.
• A recent EPA study on four vulnerable groups found that racial minorities will suffer disproportionately from the effects on climate change. Specifically, Black Americans are 40% more likely to live in areas with increased climate change-related mortality rates. The numbers for other racial groups all show increased likelihood to live in those areas over non-POC Americans: Hispanic/Latino at 43%, American Indians at 48%, and Asian Americans at 23%.
• Low-income Americans and those with no high school diploma are 25% more likely to live in areas with high projected labor loss due to climate change, according to the EPA.

+ Public Health

• Health externalities from fossil fuel use comprise 350,000 preventable deaths each year. By subsidizing fossil fuels, we are allowing polluters to abdicate responsibility for the social costs they impose on communities.
• Health effects of climate change can be caused by air and water pollution that directly result from the burning of fossil fuels, but climate change also alters environmental determinants of health, such as extreme heat, corroded infrastructure, proliferation of disease, famine, drought, and natural disasters.
• Without pricing carbon, we’re already paying less than the true cost to public health and safety that fossil fuels impose on society. When we subsidize the industry, we move even further away from making polluters pay their fair share.

+ Rapid Decarbonization

• Billions of public dollars supporting fossil fuel companies means that clean energy companies are on an uneven playing field with an incumbent industry.
• Fossil fuels extracted on public lands account for 24% of U.S. GHG emissions. Ending government support of these operations would be a significant step toward U.S. decarbonization.
• Research demonstrates that fossil fuel subsidy reform in the top 32 subsidizing countries would yield a 6% emissions reduction on average per country, with the potential to reduce emissions by up to 35%. (The IMF published a similar study that showed a 36% projected decline in emissions if fossil fuels were priced accurately on a global scale).
• These global emissions reductions correspond to 500 million - 2 billion metric tons of CO2 per year, or one quarter of all emissions pledges under the Paris Agreement.

+ Jobs

• Evidence suggests that the windfall in taxpayer funds devoted to fossil fuel companies benefits shareholders and fails to trickle down to workers. In 2020, 62 of the coal, oil, and gas companies that received a CARES Act tax bailout (combined $7.7 billion) laid off over 58,000 workers.
• Jobs in the fossil fuel industry can pay well, but that’s because they pose extreme risks to health and safety for workers who spend hours on end in coal mines and on oil rigs. Clean energy jobs are safer and healthier for our workers.
• Fossil fuel jobs tend to be centralized in just a few states, whereas clean energy jobs can happen in every state. A movement towards a clean economy will expand job opportunities.
• Low-income Americans and those with no high school diploma are 25% more likely to live in areas with high projected labor loss due to climate change, according to the EPA.
• With no action on climate change, extreme heat will force U.S. outdoor workers to collectively lose $55.4 billion in earnings per year.

+ International Affairs & National Security

• In 2009, the G-20 agreed to phase out fossil fuel subsidies but made little progress. The G-7 subsequently set a deadline of 2025 for fossil fuel subsidy reform, but in the absence of leadership on the issue, countries have reached an impasse.
• The U.S. military spends at least $81 billion per year defending global oil supplies. This puts American troops at risk and takes resources away from other critical national security objectives.
• Research demonstrates that fossil fuel subsidy reform in the top 32 subsidizing countries would yield a 6% emissions reduction on average per country, with the potential to reduce emissions by up to 35%.
• The Paris Agreement presents an opportunity to link fossil fuel subsidy reform with Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) for lowering emissions. Only 14 countries have pledged to reform fossil fuel subsidies in their NDCs, but given projected emissions reductions, that number has the potential to be much higher.

+ Impacts on Urban & Rural Communities

From the Global Change National Climate Assessment :

• "Climate change and its impacts threaten the well-being of urban residents in all U.S. regions. Essential infrastructure systems such as water, energy supply, and transportation will increasingly be compromised by interrelated climate change impacts. The nation’s economy, security, and culture all depend on the resilience of urban infrastructure systems."
• "Approximately 245 million people live in U.S. urban areas, a number expected to grow to 364 million by 2050."
• "Many major U.S. metropolitan areas, for example, are located on or near the coast and face higher exposure to particular climate impacts like sea level rise and storm surge, and thus may face complex and costly adaptation demands."
• "The urban elderly are particularly sensitive to heat waves. They are often physically frail, have limited financial resources, and live in relative isolation in their apartments. They may not have adequate cooling (or heating), or may be unable to temporarily relocate to cooling stations. "
• Meanwhile, "rural communities are highly dependent upon natural resources for their livelihoods and social structures. Climate change related impacts are currently affecting rural communities. These impacts will progressively increase over this century and will shift the locations where rural economic activities (like agriculture, forestry, and recreation) can thrive."
• "Physical isolation, limited economic diversity, and higher poverty rates, combined with an aging population, increase the vulnerability of rural communities. Systems of fundamental importance to rural populations are already stressed by remoteness and limited access."