Greenpeace has released a report that estimates total energy and transport subsidies in Australia at between A$9.3 billion and A$10.1 billion during 2005-06.
A series of recent non-governmental reports have stoked controversy surrounding World Bank financing of oil and gas projects. According to analysis carried out by the Washington-based Bank Information Center (BIC), financing for fossil fuel projects from the International Finance Corporation, an arm of the World Bank, increased over 90% between 2005 and 2006.
United States farm subsidy programs are again proving to be a major obstacle to expanding international trade opportunities at Geneva meetings aimed at reviving the Doha round of trade negotiations. Opponents of farm subsidy reform may be applauding this impasse, but there is be no reason for glee from the public at large. U.S. farm subsidy programs are broken and need to be fixed.
A recent report released by the European Environmental Agency (EEA) has found that greenhouse emissions from transport vehicles remain a key obstacle to the European Union (EU) reaching its Kyoto climate change targets.
The European Union has released ‘indicative figures' on direct payments given to agricultural producers in 2005 under the Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has released a report which states that agricultural subsides are rising in certain developing countries, although overall subsidy levels remain relative low in these countries compared to wealthier OECD nations.
Call it is one of the unknown Indian ironies. Over many years, the Indian state, through its public irrigation agencies, has systematically taken over the management of surface water systems. It has taken over the job of building irrigation systems-dams, reservoirs and canals-then maintaining these and supplying water.
Jaideep Hardikar, an Indian journalist with Daily News and Analysis (DNA), spends much of his time in rural Vidarbha, in the state of Maharashtra, where it is estimated that on average a farmer commits suicide every eight hours. It his job to document this disturbing symptom of what has become widely known as India's "agrarian crisis", but also to uncover the underlying root causes.
The Canadian Saskatchewan Institute of Public Policy, of the University of Regina, warns that an ethanol industry in the Province of Saskatchewan would not be viable without government subsidies, and offers limited benefits for rural development.
A briefing note by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) (International trade in biofuels: Good for development? And good for environment?) comments that barriers to trade in biofuels are blocking the possible benefits of this alternative fuel.