$500 billion and $5 trillion in fossil fuel subsidies

May 28, 2015
CREDIT: DYLAN PETROHILOS/THINKPROGRESS

The International Monetary Fund has found that fossil fuels receive $500 billion a year in direct subsidies and $5 trillion a year in indirect subsidies a year. 

Let that sink in... that is more than 6% of the world's GDP that fossil fuel suppliers are not paying to account for the cost of burning their products. 
Global Fossil Fuel Subsidies as percent of GDP
75% of those costs are local costs resulting from immediate health impacts like air pollution. You are paying those costs in your health care bills. 

The researchers point out that the huge local costs of burning fossil fuel means that correctly pricing energy would make financial sense to individual countries, and “therefore is beneficial even in the absence of globally coordinated action.”

Approximately 25% of those costs are attributable to mitigating climate change impacts.

Droughts, wildfires, extreme weather events like Hurricane Sandy, Irene, off the charts snowstorms, sea level rise... 

...but how do you put a price on Miami?