In 2018, the UK Government gave over £10 billion in subsidies and tax breaks to fossil fuel companies. We call on the UK Government to end the fossil fuel subsidy at once.

In 2018, the UK Government gave over £10 billion in subsidies and tax breaks to fossil fuel companies.

We often accuse our politicians of doing too little to prevent irreversible, and runaway climate change. The truth is more alarming than that. A significant part of the UK fossil fuel subsidies identified by the commission is the 5% rate of VAT on domestic gas and electricity, cut from the standard 20%. There should be effective taxes placed on the biggest polluters and other measures put in place to ensure people across society have access to affordable, clean energy.

The UK government hands over billions to the industries whose activities could render much of the earth inhospitable to human life.

It is now universally recognised that climate breakdown poses an existential threat to humanity and habitat worldwide. Failure to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees will trigger crop failures on an unimaginable scale; a huge leap in the number and severity of extreme weather events, be they typhoons, floods, droughts; sea level rise that will engulf vast swathes of the planet; unprecedented migration; new conflict and diseases; and the mass extinction of flora and fauna.

Yet 2018 saw a 2.7% increase in carbon emissions, the highest increase ever on record. We are going in the wrong direction, and the UK Government is fanning the flames of this fire.

We call on the UK Government to end the fossil fuel subsidy at once.