BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Carbon addicts and climate debt

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Carbon addicts and climate debt: "Carbon addicts and climate debt
Andrew Simms. Image: Nef

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Andrew Simms

The fossil fuel industry is a major source of tax revenue for western nations, which is a disincentive to cutting greenhouse gas emissions, says Andrew Simms in this week's Green Room. But while some of that taxation depends on the huge profits reported by companies like BP and Shell, he argues they would be bankrupt if the taxes they paid reflected the social costs of their emissions.


Gordon Brown and Tony Blair. Image: AFP/Getty
The UK appears to be in denial as it becomes more deeply addicted to oil and its profits

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The last week has raised a new problem of substance abuse in Britain.

In a world of growing climate chaos and oil scarcity, at least US President George Bush admitted his country's 'serious problem' of fossil-fuel addiction.

But the UK appears to be in denial as it becomes more deeply addicted to oil and its profits, raising the real danger that growing oil revenues could become a big disincentive to cut oil use and tackle global poverty.

Oil magnate J Paul Getty set the template for 20th Century inequality when he declared: 'The meek shall inherit the Earth, but not its mineral rights.'

Based on statistics from the International En"