From Peter Smith
Time and again we hear that renewable energy has to compete within the market (6 November, p 22). Recently a spokeswoman from the UK’s Department of Trade and Industry stated that, “The government…doesn’t want an [energy] sector underpinned by government support.”
The assumption is always that the market is fair. It isn’t. Fossil energy is heavily subsidised, directly and indirectly.
For example, carbon is the one major commodity whose price does not reflect the risks it generates. Nor does that price embody the damaging impacts of climate change for which it is chiefly responsible.
The insurance industry faces escalating costs due to the increasing intensity and incidence of storms and floods. Health services faced costs arising from the extended heatwave of 2003. They also meet the bill for the rising tide of illness due to low-level pollution. Droughts in Africa and elsewhere are putting extreme pressure on aid agencies.
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These are some of the costs that can be considered as indirect subsidies to fossil fuels. As temperatures and sea levels rise, things will get progressively worse and still we will burn fossil fuels with abandon and renewable energy will continue to be penalised by a so-called free market.
Nottingham, UK
