COPENHAGEN - 14 December 2009 - The Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI) invites speakers and observers from a range of Group of Twenty (G-20) governments, inter-governmental and non-governmental organisations, as well as the private sector, to focus on how the G-20's September 2009 political commitment to phase out fossil-fuel subsidies can be translated into effective reform. While the underlying rationale is tremendously compelling and the goal patently clear, the challenge now lies in implementation: collecting the data, countering political reticence and resistance from entrenched interests, and softening the impact of higher energy prices on the poor.

Participants included:

• Per Callesen Deputy Permanent Secretary, Danish Ministry of Finance.
• William A. Pizer, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Environment and Energy, U.S. Department of the Treasury.
• José Maria Figueres Olsen, former President of Costa Rica and Founder of the Global Observatory
• Helen Mountford, Deputy Director, Environment Directorate, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) [download presentation: OECD work on fossil-fuel subsidies]
• Fatih Birol, Chief Economist, International Energy Agency (IEA)

Interviews with OECD, GSI and IEA representatives following the event: