According to a report published by the European Commission, the United Kingdom (UK) is the largest funder of fossil fuels in the European Union and pumped about €12bn into fossil fuel support in 2016, followed by Germany, France, Italy and Spain. However, these countries invested more to support the development of renewable energies such as wind and solar than on fossil fuels like coal, gas and oil.
Energy subsidies (including renewable support) rose from €148bn in 2008 to €169bn in 2016, including €102bn for the energy sector, €24bn for households, €18bn for industry and €13bn for transport. They accounted for 1.1% of the EU’s total GDP, with Bulgaria and Luxembourg bookending the list with shares standing respectively at 2.7% and 0.3%. Germany was the largest contributor to renewable energy subsidies and allocated more than €27bn in subsidies in 2016. Overall, fossil fuels benefited from an estimated €55bn in public funding across the European Union.
As for free EU ETS emission allowances, they fell from €41bn to €4bn over the 2008-2016 period due to decreasing carbon prices and fewer eligible sectors for receiving free allowances under the European trading system (ETS).