International Subsidies Federal energy subsidies extend well beyond U.S. borders. The U.S. underwrites fossil fuel development around the world through multilateral financial institutions like the World Bank. In fact, the World Bank -which receives nearly $1 billion in U.S. taxpayer dollars a year - has funded $13.6 billion in fossil fuel projects between 1992 and 1998.
Bilateral finance agencies controlled by the U.S. government are also in the business of funding oil, gas, and coal projects overseas. From 1992 to 1998, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im) underwrote commitment for more than $15 billion for various fossil fuel projects.
These projects have severe local and global environmental impacts. Fossil fuel projects pollute the very communities that international financial institutions intend to help, and their revenue often benefits multinational companies at the expense of the environment. Fossil fuel development overseas also harms the global environment: projects funded by the World Bank, OPIC and Ex-Im between 1992 and 1998 will release more than 67.8 billion tons of climate change-inducing CO2 over their lifetime.4
The U.S. has urged developing countries like China and India to commit to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Paradoxically, through the World Bank, OPIC and Ex-Im, the U.S. is actually subsidizing an increase in emissions from the same countries.
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