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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: Recent Developments in Sudan's Fuel Subsidy Reform Process

In September 2013 Sudan introduced the third and most dramatic in a series of fuel subsidy cuts, raising prices of petrol, diesel and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by 65 to 75 per cent each. This came in a context of high economic pressure, following the loss of oil revenue from South Sudan after July 2011. That resulted in significant structural imbalances in the fiscal and current accounts, sending the black market exchange rate out of control and requiring the Central Bank to print money to finance excessive government spending.

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Reports: Understanding Fossil-fuel Subsidies in India: Questions and answers

Fossil-fuel subsidies are significant drain on public finances. They are also bad for the environment, while benefitting higher income consumers more than poorer ones. This comic book provides an accessible and fun introduction to fossil-fuel subsidies in India. It details how the subsidies work, their impacts on people and the economy, and what the Indian government is doing to change these policies.

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Commentary: Energy subsidies in the context of sustainable development

Editor’s introduction: in late 2009 and early 2010, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) helped prepare a Joint Report, Analysis of the Scope of Energy Subsidies and Suggestions for the G-20 Initiative, in partnership with the International Energy Agency (IEA), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank. The purpose of the study was to analyse “the scope of energy subsidies” and provide suggestions for the G-20’s initiative to phase out and rationalize inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption, and it was submitted to the G-20 Meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in Toronto, Canada, on 26-27 June 2010. In this article, the OPEC Secretariat explains its findings and perspective on the role of energy subsidies and their relationship with sustainable development.

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A Grain of Salt Needed with Promises of Cheap Desalination

The irony of water scarcity on a planet 70% covered by ocean does make us gaze longingly at the seas as the ultimate answer. The public, politicians and water authorities continue to hope that cost-effective and environmentally friendly desalination - the removal of salt from seawater to make it drinkable - will come to the rescue of water-scarce regions.

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Commentary: A case for paying the full cost of energy: an interview with Norman Myers

Norman Myers, an environmental scientist, is the author of the book Perverse Subsidies: Tax $s Undercutting our Economies and Environments Alike. He is currently completing a new book called How Institutions Block Our Road to Sustainability. He also serves as a member of the High-Level Advisory Group of the Global Subsidies Initiative. The GSI reached Mr. Myers at his home in Oxford, England.

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