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Energy Subsidies in Other Countries

Research

News: EC proposes to revise biofuel subsidies

BRUSSELS – 17 October 2012 – The European Commission released today a legislative proposal that would reduce support to conventional biofuels while creating additional incentives for advanced biofuels.

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News: Fossil-fuel subsidies round-up: February and March 2011

Following announcements that fossil-fuel subsidies will be phased out, from the G-20, the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and a number of independent countries, including Iran, Nigeria and Bahrain, Subsidy Watch has decided each month to highlight important news stories that touch on this theme.

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Clarifying misconceptions about taxpayer-subsidized ethanol exports in the United States

Last November, the Financial Times published an article charging that U.S.-produced ethanol is collecting U.S. tax credits before being shipped to Europe, where it also qualifies for favorable tax treatment. I covered this story in "Taxpayer Subsidized Ethanol Exports May Bite Industry in the Future". The gist of my article was that if this charge is true, it completely undermines the supposed reasons U.S. taxpayers are subsidizing ethanol in the first place: to reduce dependence on foreign oil. In fact, as I showed in a later article, any ethanol that is exported actually increases U.S. dependence on foreign oil because it takes some oil to make the ethanol and then ship it to the export market.

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