Fossil Fuel Subsidies & Climate Change

There is a pressing “need for faster reform, urgency and political commitment.”[1] These were the opening highlights of the fifth high-level event on fossil fuel subsidy reform, organized by the Friends of Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform (“Friends”), Global Subsidies Initiative and the World Bank on April 21, in the context of the 2017 International Monetary Fund and World Bank Spring Meetings held in Washington, D.C.

Phase-out and reallocation of fossil fuel subsidies (FFS) is a low-hanging fruit for financing and implementing SDGs. First, it has a diverse support base of both sustainable development advocates and “government downsizers.” Second, instead of requiring financing like many sustainable development policies, it could free up hundreds of billions of dollars for implementing multiple SDGs.

The combined impact of fossil fuel subsidy reform (FFSR) and an increase in gasoline and diesel fuel taxation could do three things: save and raise money for governments; reduce emissions; and provide upfront and ongoing domestic resources to fund sustainable development and the sustainable energy transition.

This working paper explains how different production subsidies currently unlock “zombie energy” from fossil fuel deposits that would not be commercially viable to produce without government support.

25 May—Bonn, Germany—Over the last two weeks, countries met in Bonn to discuss the implementation of the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Fiscal instruments—such as fossil fuel subsidy reform, fuel duty and carbon taxation—were raised throughout the meeting, which was supported by the Global Subsidies Initiative of IISD and the Friends of Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform (Friends of FFSR). 

For decades, the trajectories of fossil fuel subsidies and world trade have been closely interwoven.

16 February 2016—Geneva—The Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI) of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) hosted a webinar on the climate change impacts of USD 500 billion of government subsidies to fossil fuels. The webinar was chaired by Peter Wooders, Group Director, Energy, IISD, who outlined the importance of fiscal instruments and mitigation efforts in light of the UNFCCC agreement and the ambitious efforts of the Friends of Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform in promoting an international communiqué on the issue.