111–120 of 140 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Got source? China only ended solar panel export subsidy this month.
Subsidies for fossil fuels in 2020 were $5 trillion according to IMF Working Paper: https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WP/Issues/2021/09/23/Sti...
So $400b. Still a lot.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Got source? China only ended solar panel export subsidy this month.
Pricing fossil fuel pollution at zero is the biggest subsidy in the world bar none. Contrast this with for example nuclear power, where potential pollution risks as well as storage of its spent resources are some of the biggest costs. If they were subsidized equally to fossil fuels, the costs of those would be very low, with the public simply paying the price for any negative health effects. Oil is directly subsidize…
Yes some places choose to lower fuel taxes. But that's not really a subsidy is it.
(And tbf nor is my mentioned Chinese solar panel export subsidy as it was actually a GST/VAT rebate).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The ecological impact of mining and refining of rare earths... is quite large There's obviously no ecological impact of mining and refining fossil fuel. The Deepwater Horizon actually reduced the amount of oil in the ocean. And unlike batteries, which are non-recyclable and always have been. It's common to throw the lead-acid battery from ICE vehicles into the nearest body of water, for example. It's definitely not…
BP was fined billions for Deepwater Horizon because it affected US public. Most in US don't know that recycling of lead-acid batteries from ICE vehicles is outsourced to Africa. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/11/18/world/africa/... https://www.sustainable-recycling.org/reports/urgent-strateg... "Although efforts to enforce regulations in the United States have ramped up and cleanup is underway at some sites…
Great, all better in that case. And that's the only time oil and gas extraction and shipping ever caused environmental issues. It's totally clean the rest of the time.
> Most in US don't know that recycling of lead-acid batteries from ICE vehicles is outsourced to Africa... and US automotive companies subsequently purchase the recycled lead
So the batteries can be recycled.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Global Fossil Fuel Subsidies Reached $7 Trillion in 2022, an All-Time High: https://e360.yale.edu/digest/fossil-fuel-subsidies-2022 Plus, add the entire defense budget of US + western countries, which only exists to protect oil interests.
In the "unpaid cost of climate change and air pollution as a result of burning fossil fuels" etc. sense, not in a cash given to fossil fuel folk sense.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Pricing fossil fuel pollution at zero is the biggest subsidy in the world bar none. Contrast this with for example nuclear power, where potential pollution risks as well as storage of its spent resources are some of the biggest costs. If they were subsidized equally to fossil fuels, the costs of those would be very low, with the public simply paying the price for any negative health effects. Oil is directly subsidize…
There isn't really an alternative for jet fuel, is there? Synfuel still has pollution problem and represents like 0.1% of total jet fuel used. Yes some places choose to lower fuel taxes. But that's not really a subsidy is it. (And tbf nor is my mentioned Chinese solar panel export subsidy as it was actually a GST/VAT rebate).
There isn't an alternative for water, electricity and food. Easy to find places where the former two are taxed, the latter is taxed effectively everywhere.
Literal no brainer
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Comparing primary energy is VERY misleading. From Marc Jacobson: The use of primary energy on the vertical axis is an old trick by the fossil fuel industry to mislead people into thinking that one unit of fossils = one unit of renewables. In fact, one unit of primary energy for wind or solar electricity is the equivalent of three units of fossil fuel electricity. Another trick is to pretend we need all those fossils…
Making one unit of primary energy for wind or solar electricity equivalent to three units of fossil fuel electricity is an old trick of renewable energy advocates to argue that in future we will need less primary energy. They base this on the efficiency of older gasoline engines, which is about 25%. They ignore future improvement in fuel efficiency and disregard all current combustion engines with higher efficiency.…
Carnot also puts pretty harsh limits on future improvements in fuel efficiency in scenarios like ocean shipping where the engines can get close to their theoretical efficiency.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Or the gasoline generation efficiency and transmission losses? Or the economic impacts of oil pollution? Getting oil from the ground to the pump isn't free either.
The ecological impact of mining and refining of rare earths, used for permanent magnets in EV motors or in electric generators - wind turbines, is quite large. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S03043... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Pass_Rare_Earth_Mine#... Because of ecology, refining of U.S. mined rare earths was outsourced for a very long time to China. Outsourcing of ecological damag…
I don't think I ever said otherwise. FWIW I think cars are bad. Full stop. If they have to exist, electric cars appear to have fewer externalities.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The ecological impact of mining and refining of rare earths, used for permanent magnets in EV motors or in electric generators - wind turbines, is quite large. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S03043... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Pass_Rare_Earth_Mine#... Because of ecology, refining of U.S. mined rare earths was outsourced for a very long time to China. Outsourcing of ecological damag…
> The ecological impact of mining and refining of rare earths, used for permanent magnets in EV motors or in electric generators - wind turbines, is quite large. I don't think I ever said otherwise. FWIW I think cars are bad. Full stop. If they have to exist, electric cars appear to have fewer externalities.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
BP was fined billions for Deepwater Horizon because it affected US public. Most in US don't know that recycling of lead-acid batteries from ICE vehicles is outsourced to Africa. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/11/18/world/africa/... https://www.sustainable-recycling.org/reports/urgent-strateg... "Although efforts to enforce regulations in the United States have ramped up and cleanup is underway at some sites…
> BP was fined billions for Deepwater Horizon because it affected US public. Great, all better in that case. And that's the only time oil and gas extraction and shipping ever caused environmental issues. It's totally clean the rest of the time. > Most in US don't know that recycling of lead-acid batteries from ICE vehicles is outsourced to Africa... and US automotive companies subsequently purchase the recycled lead…
They can be recycled, but much more discussion in public should be done about who pays the ecological price of recycling, mining, refining. For example US automotive companies should be fined for outsourcing recycling of lead-acid batteries to Africa.