Fossil Fuel Subsidies & Sustainable Development

This side event focused on fossil fuel subsidy reform as a means to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including through opportunities for financing and sustainable energy access.

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 calls upon the global community to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all by 2030.

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.

Two events this September set a new bar for climate change leadership. First, over 340 non-governmental organisations from 67 countries signed the Lofoten Declaration. This document calls for an end to exploration and expansion of new oil, gas and coal reserves, a managed decline of the oil, coal, and gas industry, and a just transition to a safer climate future.

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.

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.