White House: US will publish fossil fuel subsidy totals

The White House will begin publishing annual tallies of federal subsidies for petroleum and coal.

The plan is part of a wider set of “open government” commitments announced Thursday.

{mosads}“In an effort to increase transparency and accountability, the United States will … begin to publish annual reports on U.S. government spending on fossil fuel subsidies and will share this information with the Group of 20 (G-20) and other relevant international bodies,” the White House said in a report.

G-20 member nations in recent years have been pledging to take steps to curb subsidies for production and consumption of fossil fuels, calling it a way to help combat climate change.

However, years of White House of proposals to end billions of dollars in U.S. oil-and-gas industry tax incentives have gone nowhere on Capitol Hill.