RE: [GreenYes] Digest for greenyes@googlegroups.com - 2 updates in 2 topics

[Lifset, Reid]

Hi Neil,

 

As you probably know, most of the research on virgin subsidies focuses on fossil fuels.  There are many fewer efforts to quantify subsidies for virgin materials.  These might be helpful:

 

McCarthy, Andrew, and Peter Börkey. “Mapping Support for Primary and Secondary Metal Production.” France: OCED, October 16, 2018. https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/environment/mapping-support-for-primary-and-secondary-metal-production_4eaa61d4-en.

 

OECD. Environmentally Harmful Subsidies: Challenges for Reform. Paris, France: OECD Publications, 2005. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264012059-en.

 

Pew Charitable Trusts.  “Reforming the U.S. Hard Rock Law of 1872: The Price of Inaction.” Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Pew Charitable Trusts, 2009. http://pew.org/1Q6ZWXj.

 

Sincerely,

Reid

 

Reid J. Lifset
Research Scholar; Founding Editor, Journal of Industrial Ecology

Center for Industrial Ecology
T +1-203-432-6949
F +1-203-432-5912

@JindEcol

reid....@yale.edu

Yale School of the Environment
environment.yale.edu

cie.research.yale.edu

 

 

From: gree...@googlegroups.com <gree...@googlegroups.com>
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Subject: [GreenYes] Digest for gree...@googlegroups.com - 2 updates in 2 topics

 

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·       subsidies for wasting - 1 Update

·       NEWMOA and NERC with Partners Release Anaerobic Digestion Roadmap - 1 Update

subsidies for wasting

Neil Seldman <nnsel...@gmail.com>: May 24 10:30PM -0400 Hi Colleagues,   Does anyone know if there is more current data on the total annual subsidies to virgin materials companies?   Here is data from 1999: From ZWUSA https://archive.grrn.org/reports/w4w/w4w.pdf Thanks for your help. Neil

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NEWMOA and NERC with Partners Release Anaerobic Digestion Roadmap

Sophie Leone <sop...@nerc.org>: May 24 07:49PM Good Afternoon,   NERC is very excited to share that our project, which was done in collaboration with Northeast Waste Management Officials' Association (NEWMOA) and partners Clean and Healthy New York, and the Connecticut Coalition for Economic and Environmental Justice (CT EEJ) has been completed. Over the past two years we have worked to develop informative resources for anaerobic digestion (AD) facilities to be able to effectively navigate the regulatory requirements and engage with communities when siting and operating an AD facility.   From this work we have produced four free webinars<https://nerc.org/projects/current-projects/ad-ej-project#adweb> along with three resource documents which are all now available<https://www.newmoa.org/projects/anaerobic-digestion-project/>. For more information, and to access these resources please visit our website and view our recent press release<https://nerc.org/news-and-updates/press-releases/newmoa-and-nerc-with-partners-release-anaerobic-digestion-guidance>. We invite everyone to share this information and these resources across your networks.   Have a great weekend!   Thank you, Sophie [photo-logo]<https://img.newoldstamp.com/r/665698/p> Sophie Leone Development and Program Manager Northeast Recycling Council [https://img.newoldstamp.com/i/ib/3f3f3d/icon105/phone.png?t=3f] 802.490.9854<tel:802.490.9854> | [https://img.newoldstamp.com/i/ib/3f3f3d/icon105/phone.png?t=3f] 802.254.3636 x2<tel:802.254.3636%20x2> [https://img.newoldstamp.com/i/ib/3f3f3d/icon105/email.png?t=d9] sop...@nerc.org<https://img.newoldstamp.com/r/665698/e?id=1> | [https://img.newoldstamp.com/i/ib/3f3f3d/icon105/website.png?t=88] nerc.org<https://img.newoldstamp.com/r/665698/w?id=1> [https://img.newoldstamp.com/i/ib/3f3f3d/icon105/address.png?t=64] PO Box 551 Brattleboro, VT 05302 [linkedin]<https://img.newoldstamp.com/r/665698/linkedin> [twitter_x]<https://img.newoldstamp.com/r/665698/twitter_x> [instagram]<https://img.newoldstamp.com/r/665698/instagram> [facebook]<https://img.newoldstamp.com/r/665698/facebook> <https://img.newoldstamp.com/r/665698/b> Stay Connected<https://nerc.app.neoncrm.com/np/clients/nerc/subscribe.jsp> IMPORTANT: This message is confidential. It may also be privileged or otherwise protected by work product immunity or other legal rules. If you have received it by mistake, please let us know by e-mail reply and delete it from your system; you may not copy this message or disclose its contents to anyone. The integrity and security of this message cannot be guaranteed on the Internet.

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[Neil Seldman]

Reid, Thanks for this help. Be well, Neil

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[Doug Koplow]

Sorry to be a bit late to weigh in here.

1) I did a fairly big research effort a month or so ago to find new information on subsidies to timber. There is very little data anywhere. In the US, subsidies to timbering roads in public lands with timber concessions remain, but aren't huge. Internationally, it's clear that timber theft, below market concessions, and roads are all significant -- just not quantified. Interpol, which estimates illegal timbering, does have an update to its 2019 value in process, but no estimated completion date. There's also massive subsidies to wood pellets, particularly in the UK -- google "Drax" and "subsidies".

2) OECD has continued to work on subsidies and there are some reports that may be useful that were completed more recently than the ones Reid flagged. I found their work on subsidies to state-owned enterprises (SOEs) particularly interesting. Some of their assessments are of primary materials. The papers are analytically strong and address a challenging area: subsidies to SOEs involve below-market credit, risk shifting, and state equity infusions, all of which are hard to quantify. Some useful links:

-Steel: https://www.oecd.org/industry/ind/95th_Steel_Session_Impact_of_steel_subsidies.pdf

-Synthesis of their work on multiple industries: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/trade/government-support-in-industrial-sectors_1d28d299-en

3) There is an emerging treaty on plastics waste that is expected to include disciplining (i.e., disclosing, reforming, eliminating) subsidies to plastics and plastics feedstocks. The scale of subsidies is likely to be large, but the data set is not complete enough to be published yet.

4) Subsidies to energy inputs (and not just fossil fuels) have always been a significant prop for primary industries, as well as to disposal over recycling. The surging federal subsidies under the IRA simply make these worse. Among the factors to look for:

-Subsidies to anaerobic digestion even for massive ag companies.

-Subsidies to carbon capture, particularly 45Q.

-Subsidies to methane from landfills (now referred to as "RNG" or "renewable natural gas") and to power from WTE plants.

-I don't know the current status of the favorable tax treatment of black liquor byproducts at paper mills, but these were very large about 10 years ago.

-There are growing subsidies to minerals needed for the energy transition (particularly EVs). This includes lithium. These are likely to harm the secondary markets in these materials.

-Large subsidies to biomass conversion to energy remain in the US despite murky environmental benefits. These will likely spur removal of more and more residuals from the land, which could have long-term effects on ecosystem health.

5) Target 18 under the Global Biodiversity Framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity will require much more transparency on environmentally harmful subsidies, assuming countries follow it (there's no formal enforcement mechanism). But this will capture a number of sectors of relevance to recycling and composting, including agriculture, forestry, fossil fuels, plastics, and non-energy mining.

Regards,

Doug

On Sun, May 26, 2024 at 10:00 AM Lifset, Reid <reid....@yale.edu> wrote:

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[Neil Seldman]

Thanks for this research. Much appreciated. Neil