UK newspaper The Guardian has published an article on fossil-fuel subsidies in its ‘data blog’. The piece accurately reports a summary of the latest data of fossil-fuel subsidies around the world – their size, inefficiency and incidence. The author, Duncan Clark, argues that subsidies in poorer countries are unlikely to be reformed until richer countries reform their own subsidies, which are often harder to identify.

The post focuses on the environmental rationale for reform: for example, it is estimated that reform could offset 2.6 billion tonnes of CO₂ by 2035. It omits, however, to stress the practical fiscal reasons why developing countries in particular might want to change pricing practices. As international oil prices continue to rise, fossil-fuel subsidies can become a serious liability for government budgets. Going forward, this may divert resources from other important spending priorities, deepen deficits and increase the ultimate price shock when subsidization is no longer possible.