Energy Subsidies - International

Are fossil fuel subsidies necessary to achieve the rapid progress needed for universal energy access by 2030? Practitioners discuss opportunities at the SDG 7 Conference in Bangkok.

Research released in a letter to Nature describes how a single policy instrument, fossil fuel subsidy reform (FFSR), could deliver carbon emission reductions of between 0.5 to 2 Gt, or between 1 and 4 per cent, globally by 2030.

This paper explores the concept of financial sustainability and proposes a framework to analyze electricity sectors based on this concept. Financial sustainability, as defined here, includes assessment of factors that directly present a cost—such as pricing electricity below the cost of production—in addition to those which may lead to additional costs in the future, such as an inability to make investments to respond to changes in demand.

This report articulates how fossil fuel subsidy reform (FFSR) can contribute to a just transition, and how a just transition framework can contribute to successful reform.

In their closing statement at the UNFCCC COP 23 in 2017, the world’s 47 least developed countries requested that the Talanoa Dialogue include “managing a phaseout of fossil fuels”. The 2018 Talanoa Dialogue is a crucial opportunity to increase climate mitigation ambition and effectiveness by putting fossil fuel phase-out on the international climate agenda.

Self- and peer reviews of government support to oil, gas and coal are a first step and practical tool for phasing out wasteful fossil fuel subsidies (FFS). The G7, G20, European Union and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) governments have all committed “to rationalize inefficient FFS that encourage wasteful consumption.” But how can we support them?

This year’s G20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany, saw long and heated discussion on the urgency of delivering the Paris Agreement.

Can the international trade system be a catalyst for reforming fossil fuel subsidies (FFSs) to help relieve the burden on the public purse, reduce local and global air pollution, improve energy security and tackle climate change?