Post-industrial countries subsidize the fossil fuel industries by about 73 billion dollars every year. On the other hand between 1 and 3 percent of the 40 billion dollars spent energy investment in developing countries is actually spent on renewable and alternate forms of energy. This is according to the report, The Price of Power, which was released by the New Economics Foundation, a think tank based in the UK.
The gist of the argument the report makes is that fossil fuel use not only contributes to global warming but also perpetuates poverty in the developing world by keeping citizens dependent on centralized energy distribution systems based on fossil fuels. If India, China or Indonesia are ever going to reach a standard of living equal to that of the post-industrial world, they’re going to have to invest in decentralized, small-scale, energy sources, like solar, wind, biomass and hydro.