Skip to main content
Camels walking in a rural area of the desert, with a windmill in the distance.

Fossil Fuel Subsidies & Sustainable Development

From closing the funding gap for universal education, financing global basic healthcare, or staying within the 2° warming target for the planet, there is a huge potential from the phase out of fossil fuel subsidies for sustainable development.

Reports: Achieving a Fossil-Free Recovery

This report lays out concrete options for governments to achieve net-zero and sustainable development goals by using recovery spending to support the transition to clean energy and a resilient, fossil-free economy.

View Report

Reports: Gender and Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform in India: Findings and recommendations

The report examines the impacts of India’s subsidies to cooking gas—and their reform—from a gender perspective. On average, when cooking with liquified petroleum gas (LPG) rather than biomass, women saved about one hour per day due to reduced cooking and cleaning times. The report recommends reviewing subsidy targeting policies so that more poor households benefit from ongoing LPG subsidies because its findings sho

View Report

Press Release: New report reveals BRICS governments’ revenues from fossil fuels

Geneva, November 13, 2019 – As the BRICS leaders’ summit starts in Brazil, a new report is the first of its kind to bring together data on both revenues and subsidies related to fossil fuels in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Beyond Fossil Fuels: Fiscal Transition in BRICS, from the Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI) of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and Leave it in the

Read More

News: Converting Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform into Opportunities for Climate Action

New York, 10 July 2019 – High-Level Political Forum side event explored FFS reform as the missing piece of the climate change challenge. Aiming at more effective implementation of the Paris Agreement, the event highlighted how FFS contradicts the spirit of a number of SDGs, including SDG3 (Health) and SDG7 (Energy), and explained how their removal may contribute to reach SDG13 (Climate Action) and to achieve the goals of the 2030 Agenda. 

Read More

It’s the Politics, Stupid! How to Make Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform Happen

Despite growing agreement on the negative impact of fossil fuel subsidies on the climate and socioeconomic issues, subsidies continue to be handed out by governments around the world. To understand this implementation gap, we must learn more about the political factors favoring and blocking fossil fuel subsidy reform. Our research shows that a more holistic framing of fossil fuel subsidy reform that goes beyond environmental concerns could help garnering broader societal support.

Read More

Blog: How Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform Could Get Us on Target Towards Universal Energy Access

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 calls upon the global community to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all by 2030. The High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) in New York noted progress, but also established that the world is still not on track to reach the targets on energy access, energy efficiency and renewable energies.

Read More