Burning Billions: Record public money for fossil fuels impeding climate action

The document outlines the methodology for a briefing on public money for fossil fuels, detailing how the authors tracked subsidies, state-owned enterprise (SOE) investments, and international public finance. It specifies the use of IMF and IEA data for 2022 subsidies and explains the 50% government ownership rule for SOE analysis. The note also highlights significant data gaps, particularly regarding subnational support and transparency in Chinese SOE reporting, suggesting that total government support for fossil fuels is likely underestimated.

• For 2022, the authors used IMF estimates for 'explicit' fossil fuel subsidies, totaling USD 1.3 trillion, because the IMF's data provided greater country coverage and included producer subsidies compared to IEA estimates.
• The analysis of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) was limited to national-level entities with at least 50% government ownership, which the authors acknowledge likely results in an underestimation of total SOE investment.
• Data transparency for Chinese energy SOEs is limited, as some companies provide only gross investment figures or report data only for listed subsidiaries, making it difficult to distinguish between fossil fuel and renewable energy investments.
• The report distinguishes between 'explicit' subsidies and 'implicit' subsidies (externalities), the latter of which include environmental damages from air pollution and climate change, as well as traffic-related costs.
• Renewable energy support was estimated using government spending commitments from the IEA Government Energy Spending Tracker and other sources for G20 countries, rather than actual annual expenditures, making them not directly comparable to fossil fuel data.
• The authors identify a significant global gap in reporting on government support, noting that the exclusion of subnational jurisdictions and missing data for certain SOEs (such as Argentina’s YCRT and Energia Argentina) likely leads to an underestimation of total support.

APA

Laan, T., Geddes, A., & Do, N. (2023). Burning Billions: Record public money for fossil fuels impeding climate action. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2023-11/burning-billions-record-fossil-fuels-support-2022-methodology-note.pdf

Chicago

Laan, Tara, Anna Geddes, and Nhat Do. Burning Billions: Record public money for fossil fuels impeding climate action. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2023. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2023-11/burning-billions-record-fossil-fuels-support-2022-methodology-note.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Laan |first1=Tara |last2=Geddes |first2=Anna |last3=Do |first3=Nhat |title=Burning Billions: Record public money for fossil fuels impeding climate action |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=2023 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2023-11/burning-billions-record-fossil-fuels-support-2022-methodology-note.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{laan2023burning, author = {Laan, Tara and Geddes, Anna and Do, Nhat}, title = {{Burning Billions: Record public money for fossil fuels impeding climate action}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2023}, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2023-11/burning-billions-record-fossil-fuels-support-2022-methodology-note.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }