does government support to upstream oil & gas activities benefit arctic communities? stewart...
TRANSCRIPT
Does Government Support to Upstream Oil & Gas Activities Benefit Arctic Communities?
Stewart Wheeler, Canada’s Ambassador to IcelandMary Simon, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), CanadaMikael Anzén, Sustainable Development Working Group of the Arctic CouncilPauline Gerrard, Hudson Bay Inland Sea Initiative, IISD, CanadaMikhail Babenko, PhD, WWF Global Arctic Programme, Russia Hjalti Jóhannesson, University of Akureyri Research Centre, Iceland
Moderated by Ivetta Gerasimchuk, PhD, IISD
• direct spending on transport & monitoring infrastructure, oil spill preparedness and response
• research and development grants• preferential loans• tax breaks (reduced rates of taxes, tax credits & holidays,
accelerated depreciation allowances and other)• royalty relief • caps on liabilities• many more – see at
http://www.iisd.org/gsi/fossil-fuel-subsidies/fossil-fuels-what-cost
Examples of government support to upstream oil & gas industry in the Arctic
Hudson Bay Inland Sea Initiative
IISD-GSI estimates of the value of government subsidies to upstream oil & gas activities in Norway, Canada and Russia. Subsidy value estimates are not directly comparable across
countries, since there is no international taxation benchmark.
Country
Scope Subsidies
Identified
Value of Subsidie
s
Data year
Upstream oil & gas
9 >$4 billion
2009
Upstream oil activities,
federal + 3 provinces
63 $2.8 billion
2008
Upstream oil & gas, Federal
>20 >$14 billion
2010
How would you spend 1 million dollars to best benefit local communities in the Arctic?Richness: support infrastructure development of extractive industries, including transport infrastructure; stimulate exploration in the Arctic; introduce tax breaks and royalty relief for extractive industry companies
Responsibility: support education, healthcare and housing in the High North; develop frameworks for more transparent investment contracts with extractive companies; stimulate coordination and transparency of policies at local, regional, national and international level to avoid duplication of efforts and legal uncertainties
Resilience: invest in oil spill preparedness and other safeguards; protect ecosystem services and natural habitats
One million can be split to support several measures.