LONDON — The world must by 2030 slash US$1.8 trillion in annual subsidies that destroy the environment, in order to"finance a net-zero global economy", according to a study Thursday from business groups including one founded by tycoon Richard Branson.
The study"finds the fossil fuel, agriculture and water industries receive more than 80 per cent of all environmentally harmful subsidies per year", the organisations concluded. Beef and soy production were also stimulated by"significant" subsidy flows that are a cause of tropical rainforest loss in Brazil, the report found.
"Nature is declining at an alarming rate, and we have never lived on a planet with so little biodiversity," said Christiana Figueres, head of The B Team's climate group. Agriculture receives some US$520 billion in subsidies that contribute towards soil erosion, water pollution, deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions and loss of biodiversity and natural habitats, it claimed.