PARIS – 3 June 2010 – The Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI) presented its latest research on fossil-fuel subsidies today in an event at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) headquarters in Paris, emphasizing in particular the challenges involved in understanding subsidies to the producers of fossil fuels. The event also hosted speakers from the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who announced a new initiative to support reform, and the French Ministry of Finance, who provided an update on the G-20's commitment to rationalize and phase out fossil-fuel subsidies, in anticipation of the G-20 Leaders' Summit on 26-27 June in Toronto.

In an opening presentation, GSI Senior Economist Peter Wooders warned that despite an array of benefits to be gained from fossil-fuel subsidy reform, "there is a real and present danger that the G-20 initiative may achieve little or nothing" – the recently-leaked memo from Canada's Ministry of Finance summarizes the ease with which countries can avoid taking serious action, there is still no clear agenda for the upcoming Leaders' Summit and countries have yet to publicize strategies and timelines for reform. "[W]e are... unable to point to any country which is really embracing the initiative with deep analysis and transparent commitments", he concluded, despite the fact that the GSI's latest research on fossil-fuel subsidies – five reports, whose conclusions are summarized in A Summary of Key Findings, with forewords by José María Figueres, former President of Costa Rica, and Achim Steiner, United Nations Under-Secretary General and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director – aims to show that although it may be challenging to phase out these subsidies, there are ultimately no insurmountable obstacles to a country seriously committed to reform.

Clotilde L'Angevin, from the French Ministry of Finance, reassured participants that the G-20 process was going well, providing examples of several countries' commitments to phase out fossil-fuel subsidies, and stating the expectation that every Member would have at least one subsidy to reform. She noted that France was likely to offer a supporting role, given its experience phasing out a number of subsidies to fossil fuels in the past. She discussed some of the details of the joint report prepared for the G-20 in April by the International Energy Agency (IEA), the OECD, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the World Bank, including new estimates by the IEA that global spending on consumer fossil-fuel subsidies was over US$ 550 billion in 2008.

Speaking on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, New Zealand's Deputy High Commissioner to Australia Vangelis Vitalis brought the event to a close with the announcement that a new initiative is currently being formed, The Friends of Fossil-Fuel Subsidy Reform. Led by New Zealand, and including Sweden and a number of other developed and developing non-G-20 countries, the group intends to support and add pressure to G-20 Members in the rationalizing and phasing out of their fossil-fuel subsidies. The GSI spoke with Mr. Vitalis following the event, who explained the key features of the new group.