SUBSIDY WATCH BLOG

Millions of dollars worth of fossil fuel subsidies could be better targeted by governments to benefit poor women including energy subsidies and policies.

How can lessons from India and China help Indonesia save millions of lives?

Despite growing agreement on the negative impact of fossil fuel subsidies on the climate and socioeconomic issues, subsidies continue to be handed out by governments around the world. To understand this implementation gap, we must learn more about the political factors favoring and blocking fossil fuel subsidy reform. Our research shows that a more holistic framing of fossil fuel subsidy reform that goes beyond environmental concerns could help garnering broader societal support.

In 2015, nearly 780 million people, or more than 60 per cent of the Indian population, did not have access to clean cooking. Like many countries, the Government of India has attempted to address this by subsidizing liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

On behalf of IISD’s Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI), I presented at the panel discussion on Addressing the Challenges for the Global Energy Transition towards Climate Compatible Future on August 7 at the Civil 20 (C20) Summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The summit’s objective was to facilitate an exchange among civil society representatives from G20 and other countries on the G20 agenda.

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 calls upon the global community to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all by 2030. The High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) in New York noted progress, but also established that the world is still not on track to reach the targets on energy access, energy efficiency and renewable energies.

Expert commentary on achieving gender-responsive climate action.

At the Nordic Clean Energy Week 2018 in Copenhagen and Malmo, the Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI) launched a video explaining the subsidy SWAP concept.

Zambia needs more electricity generation capacity. A drought in 2014/15 led to unprecedented load shedding that raised the issue in the public consciousness. Since then the energy policy community has debated how best to meet demand increases of approximately 3 to 4 per cent per annum in the context of changing weather patterns linked to climate change.

Fossil fuel supply needs to be phased out as well as demand, and should be accomplished in a predictable manner, to ensure a just transition.

I recently attended the 4th Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue, where I participated in a panel discussion alongside ministers and senior experts assembled to share what we can learn from these and other experiences in the transition away from coal, oil and gas around the world.

At an event held in Jakarta on March 28, 2018, at the Tugu Kunstkring Paleis, on behalf of the International Institute for Sustainable Development’s Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI), I launched a report analyzing the perceptions that energy sector stakeholders hold about progress towards this objective.

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.

Mothers, grandmothers and daughters often have a lot on their plates—even more so in developing countries where health, education and social protection are scarce, and energy systems are often emerging.

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.