Fossil Fuel Subsidies & Social Safety Nets

This report identifies knowledge gaps that are limiting policy making for better targeting of energy access subsidies in India. It identifies a number of targeting interventions that could be employed to better target subsidies for electricity and LPG.

Poland has a strong tradition of coal mining and coal fired power.

This World Bank book, edited by by Gabriela Inchauste and David G. Victor, brings together detailed chapters on the political economy of subsidy reform in four countries—the Dominican Republic, Ghana, Indonesia and Jordan —and draws overall lessons from their experiences. IISD's Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI) contributed Chapter 4, "Indonesia: Pricing Reforms, Social Assistance and the Importance of Perceptions," on Indonesia's experiences with overcoming political obstacles to gasoline and diesel subsidy reforms. The chapter begins by reviewing the economic, fiscal and political context surrounding these subsidies. It then places them in their historical context, outlining the history surrounding their creation as well as the six major reform attempts since the 1997—98 Asian Financial Crisis.

Delhi—4 May— The Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI) of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) recently organized a ministerial-level event in Delhi entitled “National Dialogue on Subsidies for Energy Access.” The event was organized in cooperation with the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) on 4 May, 2016.

This study, undertaken by IISD-GSI and ICF International, untangles the energy-water nexus by analyzing how subsidized electricity has incentivized groundwater extraction in Haryana, India.

It is ever clearer that fossil fuel subsidies are detrimental to sustainable development. However, in a time of historic low oil prices, the gap between international oil prices and consumer energy prices has narrowed dramatically, thus offering countries a huge window of opportunity to phase-out these subsidies. For this and many other reasons, the elimination of these subsidies continue to make global headlines.

In early-July 2014, the Egyptian Government announced sweeping measures to significantly increase most of the energy prices paid by businesses and households. ‘Big bang’ reform of this kind is a bold break from the past: energy prices in Egypt have changed little over several decades. According to the government, the reforms represent a decisive first step in reducing the burden of energy subsidies on Egypt’s public finances.