In The Media
Jessica Tuchman Mathews
{
"authors": [
"Jessica Tuchman Mathews"
],
"type": "other",
"centerAffiliationAll": "dc",
"centers": [
"Carnegie Endowment for International Peace"
],
"collections": [],
"englishNewsletterAll": "ctw",
"nonEnglishNewsletterAll": "",
"primaryCenter": "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace",
"programAffiliation": "SCP",
"programs": [
"Sustainability, Climate, and Geopolitics"
],
"projects": [
"Carnegie Oil Initiative"
],
"regions": [
"North America",
"United States",
"Western Europe"
],
"topics": [
"Climate Change"
]
}
Source: Getty
Other
The Truth About Energy Subsidies
People cannot advocate the removal of subsidies for renewable energy until they do so for equally problematic fossil-fuel subsidies.
Published on Dec 17, 2015
Source: Economist
Your prescriptions for tackling global warming offered anything but the “clear thinking” you called for (“Clear thinking needed”, November 28th). “Generous subsidies” for renewable energy “have achieved only a little and at great cost,” you wrote. Carbon pricing would accomplish more and do so “much more efficiently than subsidies for renewables.” That is true, but you ignore the 800-pound gorilla in this room, namely, subsidies for fossil fuels.
The International Energy Agency’s “World Energy Outlook 2015” pegs global fossil-fuel subsidies at $490 billion and those for renewables at $135 billion. The IMF, which includes in its calculation the failure to account for negative externalities of energy use (what it calls “post-tax subsidies”), pegs global energy subsidies at $5.3 trillion, most of it for fossil fuels.If the much smaller subsidies for renewables, many of which are young, evolving technologies, “perpetuate today’s low-carbon technologies” when the goal should be to “usher in tomorrow’s”, how would you describe the huge subsidies for fossil fuels that are the heart of the problem?
Put this way, the argument may allow you to poke a finger at those who practise “green theology,” but it is a serious distortion of the real issue and its needed corrective.
About the Author
Jessica Tuchman Mathews
Distinguished Fellow
Mathews is a distinguished fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She served as Carnegie’s president for 18 years.
- Washington Already Knows How to Deal with North Korea
- Trump Wins—and Now?Commentary
Jessica Tuchman Mathews
Recent Work
Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.
More Work from Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center
- Lukashenko’s Bromance With Trump Has a Sell-By DateCommentary
Lukashenko is willing to make big sacrifices for an invitation to Mar-a-Lago or the White House. He also knows that the clock is ticking: he must squeeze as much out of the Trump administration as he can before congressional elections in November leave Trump hamstrung or distracted.
Artyom Shraibman
- Beyond Oil: Hormuz Closure Puts Russia in the Lead in the Fertilizer MarketCommentary
The Kremlin expects to not only profit from rising fertilizer prices but also exact revenge for the collapse of the 2023 grain deal.
Alexandra Prokopenko
- How Far Can Russian Arms Help Iran?Commentary
Arms supplies from Russia to Iran will not only continue, but could grow significantly if Russia gets the opportunity.
Nikita Smagin
- Is There Really a Threat From China and Russia in Greenland?Commentary
The supposed threats from China and Russia pose far less of a danger to both Greenland and the Arctic than the prospect of an unscrupulous takeover of the island.
Andrei Dagaev
- Ukrainian Villages Are a Bigger Prize for Putin Than a Deal With TrumpCommentary
Western negotiators often believe territory is just a bargaining chip when it comes to peace in Ukraine, but Putin is obsessed with empire-building.
Andrey Pertsev
