Ten Largest EU Economies Spent Almost $100 Billion on Fossil Fuel Subsidies

MOSCOW, December 2 (Sputnik) — The 10 largest European economies spent almost 80 billion euros ($97 billion) on fossil fuel subsidies over the last decade, according to a Tuesday report conducted in cooperation between development and climate NGOs.

"Adding up each of the top 10 EU Member states (by GDP) available data suggests that at least 78 billion euros have been allocated over the last 13 years on fossil fuel production subsidies," the report dubbed "Missing Pieces: Steps to Phasing out Dirty Fossil Fuel Subsidies in Europe" said.

Germany, the United Kingdom and France led the way in helping finance the oil, gas and coal industries during the period from 1999 to 2013, contributing all but $13 billion of the European subsidies.

The Cooperation for Development and Solidarity (CIDSE) and Climate Action Network-International (CAN-I) joint study's findings demonstrate the "heavy and unnecessary" levels of incentivizing the production of polluting fossil fuels, despite EU members' continued assertions about "phasing out" greenhouse gas emitting resources.

Within the global context, the International Energy Agency's (IEA) 2014 World Energy Outlook released in November revealed $550 billion worth of fossil fuel subsidies worldwide, with the United States and Australia leading the way with $5.2 and $3.5 billion in 2013 exploration subsidies alone.

Environmental concerns are increasing amid record-breaking temperatures, and experts from across the world gathered in Lima, Peru on Monday for 12-day UN climate talks to draft a new global climate change agreement.