Renewable Energy Subsidies & Fossil Fuel Phase-Out
In 2014, consumption subsidies for fossil fuels were three times more than renewable subsidies. However, a simple comparison does not show the extent to which renewable energy is disadvantaged nor show the opportunities that come with phasing out fossil fuel subsidies.
In mid-April, the Nuffield Council of Bioethics, an independent body that examines ethical issues in biology and medicine, launched the report Biofuels: ethical issues.
Japan recently announced that consultations had failed to resolve its dispute with Canada over the Province of Ontario’s feed-in-tariffs for renewable energy, and that in mid-June it will be asking the WTO to establish a dispute settlement panel. This is awful news for the multilateral trade system, for which the dispute will be corrosive, seemingly pitting trade against the environment.
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.
In the past two months, the U.S. Congress has decided to continue paying Brazilian cotton farmers US$ 147 million a year; speculation intensifies as the United States enters into consultations with China over subsidies for wind energy; and the American Soybean Association makes noises about the potential trade impacts of the European Union’s Renewable Energy Directive.
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.
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.
February 7, 2011
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Friends of Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform
The Friends of Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform is a group of countries committed to supporting the reform of inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies. In this joint statement, the Friends outline why they formed and what they aim to achieve.
