If there is one thing that almost everyone can agree on, it is that we should stop giving taxpayer money to massive corporations that are actively destroying the planet. Yet, every single year, global governments hand over trillions of dollars in subsidies to the fossil fuel industry. Yes, you read that right: trillions. According to the International Monetary Fund, fossil fuel subsidies cost the world roughly $7 trillion annually when you factor in the health and environmental damages they cause. It is the most absurd and destructive political policy in modern history.

Why Do Subsidies Exist?

Originally, subsidies were created to help lower the cost of energy for consumers and to boost industrial growth during the 20th century. Politicians wanted cheap gas at the pump and cheap electricity in homes, so they gave tax breaks and direct funding to oil, coal, and gas companies to keep prices artificially low. But today, the fossil fuel industry is one of the most profitable sectors in the history of the world. They do not need our tax dollars to survive. However, because they use a fraction of those massive profits to lobby politicians and fund political campaigns, the subsidies are almost impossible to repeal. It is a vicious cycle of political corruption: the companies buy the politicians, and the politicians give the companies our money.

The Free Market Hypocrisy

The irony is that many of the politicians who fiercely defend these subsidies also claim to believe in the "free market." They argue that renewable energy sources like wind and solar should have to compete on their own without government help. But the market isn't free; it is entirely rigged in favor of oil and coal. If fossil fuel companies were forced to pay for the true cost of their product—the massive medical bills from air pollution, the destruction of coastal cities from rising seas, and the massive crop failures from droughts—a gallon of gas would cost ten times what it does today. Renewable energy is already cheaper than coal in many parts of the world, even with the deck stacked against it.

Funding Our Own Destruction

As a teenager looking at this system, it feels like we are literally paying for our own destruction. If governments took that $7 trillion and invested it in green infrastructure, high-speed rail, and solar grids, we could transition away from fossil fuels in a decade. We have to demand an immediate, global end to fossil fuel subsidies. We should not be forced to hand our tax dollars over to the executives who are actively burning down our future.