Countdown to Rio: Will Clegg clean up our dirty energy system?

Pascoe Sabido

14 June 2012

Negotiators from around the world are in Rio de Janeiro for the final preparatory talks for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, or Rio+20 'Earth Summit'. The summit is a chance to address the serious social, environmental and economic crisis we collectively face, but a big question mark looms overhead: will governments act fast enough to get us out of this hole? According to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, negotiations so far have been "painfully slow".

Fix the broken energy system

One key area where governments can really make progress is on fixing our broken energy system, in particular, through addressing the ludicrous sums being given to the dirty fossil fuel industry.

TheInternational Energy Agency recently said our addiction to fossil fuels is leading to six degrees of global warming and climate crisis. And we're making this worse by propping up the fossil fuel industry: research by Oil Change International shows that in 2012 anything between $775-$1 trillion will be handed out by our governments in fossil fuel subsidies.

Stop the handouts to dirty fossil fuel industries

Simply slashing subsidies isn't the answer. Although eventually we want all fossil fuel subsidies to be phased out, this must be in a way that doesn't make energy unaffordable and push more people into poverty. In Nigeria, the IMF's advice to abruptly cut fossil fuel subsidies for consumers led to rioting in the street and a swift government U-turn.

That's why Friends of the Earth is first calling on world governments to stop handing taxpayer money directly to the fossil fuel industries - currently at least $100 billion a year globally, and more if we include things like help from export credit agencies or military spending to secure supplies. Frankly, they're earning enough as it is and are blocking the shift to clean, affordable energy from the wind, waves and sun. World leaders already promised to phase out fossil fuel subsidies in 2009, but things aren't moving.

Global call for action

Across the world, almost a million people have added their signatures to a call for governments in Rio to honour their commitments and end taxpayer hand-outs to the fossil fuel industry.

Friends of the Earth is asking people in the UK to tell 'our man in Rio', Nick Clegg, to stop governments propping up dirty energy. That money is badly needed to fix our broken energy system - it's not serving people or the planet. As well as driving dangerous climate change, it's left 1.3 billion people with no access to electricity, and two in five still cook and heat their homes with polluting fuels like coal or firewood, with women and children particularly suffering from smoke inhalation.

You say you want a clean energy revolution

That money could help the billions of people who don't have access to clean, affordable energy, while kick-starting a revolution in the fast-growing renewables sector. By setting up locally-owned and controlled clean energy companies, communities could break free of the stranglehold of the big energy companies who dominate the market and drive up bills. Equivalents of the UK's 'Big Six' can be found all over the world.

It's already happening in some places. For examples, in Indonesia, communities are setting up their own mini hydro-electric power stations. But as with all big changes that challenge the status-quo, it needs public money and political support.

When Clegg picks up the baton next week from our negotiators in Rio, he should know what he has to do to clean up our dirty energy system: end fossil fuels subsidies and put clean, affordable community-owned energy firmly on the agenda.