Comparison of Fossil-Fuel Subsidy and Support Estimates (PDF - 558.85 KB)

‘Global’ estimates of fossil-fuel subsidies vary between organizations: from a total of US$ 2 trillion for the IMF’s post tax estimate to the IEA’s US$ 544 billion. This short primer developed by the Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI) in conjunction with the OECD, World Bank, IMF and the IEA aims to explain the estimates and methods used. While there is a great deal of overlap as to the exact subsidies being measured, the kinds of subsidies that are included and the method used to estimate them can differ. For example, only the IMF's post-tax method includes unpriced externalities from fossil-fuel use, and this significantly increases the estimated cost of subsidies globally. Differences between global estimates are also related to the inclusion of different countries, the coverage of different fuels and estimation at different time-periods. Despite these differences, all organizations agree that identifying and measuring fossil-fuel subsidies is a first step in helping governments to get the prices right and to manage such subsidies sustainably in the future.

For more information about estimating subsidies, see the GSI's subsidy accounting manual, Subsidy Estimation: A Survey of Current Practice, and the related policy brief, A How-To Guide: Measuring subsidies to fossil-fuel producers.

This article is part of the series Fossil Fuel Resources.