Fossil Fuels are Making Life More Expensive
Canadians are paying billions of dollars in extra costs because of fossil fuels
False Profits is an initiative by the Centre for Future Work that documents how fossil fuel prices and profits are making life more expensive.
False Profits produces credible research showing how fossil fuel prices and profits have caused inflation, undermined affordability, and reduced living standards for Canadians. With evidence-based analysis, False Profits exposes how oil and gas corporations have profited at the expense of consumers and workers: driving up costs while reaping record-breaking profits.
Oil and gas industry advertising claims fossil fuels are essential for affordable living. In fact, fossil fuels have caused inflation, exploited consumers and workers, and made life more expensive.
The Reports
Our first report, Counting the Costs, documents how the spike in world oil prices in 2022 (caused mostly by financial speculation on global futures markets) was the main factor causing the subsequent surge in inflation in Canada (and elsewhere). That oil price spike cost Canadians almost $200 billion over the next three years — $12,000 per household.
False Profits research provides a dollars-and-sense breakdown of the real cost of the oil and gas industry in Canada. Its research exposes how the industry inflates prices, manipulates markets, and profits off Canadian consumers and workers. Get the facts about how fossil fuels undermine living standards and worsen inequality.
Read the reports
Numbers don't lie.
Have you ever wondered how oil and gas prices impact your pocketbook or the greater economy? False Profits crunched the numbers — and broke down the economic myths — so you don’t have to.
In 2022, oil prices spiked to $130 U.S./barrel, not due to shortages, but because traders profited from fear and uncertainty after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Global oil supply grew, and Canada’s oil output reached record levels, yet consumer prices soared.
Just the direct impact of fossil fuels alone caused 43% of the increase in consumer prices from January 2021 to June 2022.
The indirect impact (felt through energy cost inputs to other goods and services) added even more.
Businesses had to pay more for fossil fuels, passing higher costs on to consumers.
The Bank of Canada hiked interest rates to help curb inflation, largely driven by fossil fuel prices, costing Canadians an extra $65 billion in interest from 2022–2024.
Higher interest rates slowed the economy, resulting in job losses and lost employment income.
Canadian businesses also felt the pinch, paying an additional $107 billion for fossil fuel inputs from 2022 through 2024.
Putting it altogether — direct consumer costs, indirect business costs, extra interest costs, and lost employment income — the fossil fuel price spike cost Canadians almost $200 billion in cumulative losses between 2022 and 2024.
That’s a loss of $12,000 per household in Canada.
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