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.
UK prime minister Theresa May visited Riyadh in early April with the intent of “deepening a true strategic partnership” and “helping to wean Saudi Arabia off oil dependency”.
Common problems often require common solutions and the need for a dialogue. This is true in the case of China and India when it comes to tackling air pollution and switching to clean energy.
Poor air quality has become a major political concern in both countries.
The absence of a road initiated a journey to a remote village located in a forest in Odisha, India. The village, Sarda Gram Panchayat, is actually a cluster of five villages and is located in a dense forest near the Sambalpur District of Odisha. The remoteness of the villages has severed ties to development work—energy access, education, health facilities and other services all have hit a roadblock.
Cooperative, non-market and country-led—that was the order of the day when it came to fossil fuel subsidy reform (FFSR) at the UN Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC) from November 7–19 in Marrakech, Morocco. Across the two weeks, the conference attracted some 22,500 participants, and there were several side events held in English and French on the issue of FFSR (a full listing is available here). Events and discussions covering FFSR focused on early action and implementation of the phase-out of fossil fuel subsidies given the current window of opportunity afforded by low oil prices. They addressed lowering the total value of fossil fuel subsidies to consumers, reducing the cost to governments of reform, as well as efforts to phase out upstream subsidies to fossil fuel producers.
Two news stories this week, emerging from either side of the Atlantic, encapsulate the climate change conundrum.
The message coming from hundreds of civil society organizations, scientists and policy-makers gathered at the climate change conference in Marrakech (COP 22) has been the fact that, in order to keep climate change within 2 degrees, three quarters of the known reserves of oil, gas and coal need to stay in the ground.
The Government of Indonesia has been considering a new wave of electricity subsidy reforms since January 2016—delaying its plans twice now for a combination of political and practical reasons.
Indonesia has a longstanding relationship with energy subsidies. For more than 40 years, these subsidies have been part of the lives of millions of Indonesians every day. For good and bad.
In the past few weeks and months, Ukrainian media has been peppered with diametrically opposed pieces of analysis and commentary on energy pricing and energy subsidy reform. On one side, the central government, with the support of international donors, as well as Naftogaz, the national gas supplier, is running an information campaign on why energy subsidy reform is a much-needed move for Ukraine. On the other side, there are continued reports of city councils and populist parties' activists protesting against the “unconstitutional” decision of the central government to increase tariffs for gas and electricity according to an accelerated schedule.
Saskatchewan has taken steps to address its greenhouse gas emissions, most notably through the implementation of carbon capture and storage technology. This is definitely a step in the right direction in addressing climate change.
Saskatchewan has taken steps to address its greenhouse gas emissions, most notably through the implementation of carbon capture and storage technology. This is definitely a step in the right direction in addressing climate change.
On July 29th the UK government announced that the final decision to build Hinkley Point C—what could become the first nuclear power station to be constructed in the UK for more than two decades—will be postponed pending a review of the project.
On 28 June, Indonesia’s government and parliament reached consensus on the revised state budget for 2016. The budget is an important indicator for Indonesia’s subsidies to fossil fuels in the year ahead. This blog provides an overview.
Delhi—4 May— The Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI) of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) recently organized a ministerial-level event in Delhi entitled “National Dialogue on Subsidies for Energy Access.” The event was organized in cooperation with the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) on 4 May, 2016.
Kerosene is used by millions of households in rural India to meet basic lighting needs, and subsidies have long been used to make the fuel more affordable. But for health, safety and environmental reasons, a switch to solar power is better—and more affordable in the absence of kerosene subsidies.
For a long time, the international community has talked about the benefits that can be created by removing wasteful fossil-fuel subsidies and freeing up expenditure for more worthwhile things—but little analysis has looked at how this works out in practice.
In large part, this is because so few countries, including among the G-20, have implemented ambitious and successful reforms.
25 May—Bonn, Germany—Over the last two weeks, countries met in Bonn to discuss the implementation of the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Fiscal instruments—such as fossil fuel subsidy reform, fuel duty and carbon taxation—were raised throughout the meeting, which was supported by the Global Subsidies Initiative of IISD and the Friends of Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform (Friends of FFSR).
20-21 April—Beijing—Coal remains central to the energy sector in China despite the impact on air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Recognizing the problems associated with coal use, China has embarked on a programme to gradually reduce the role of coal and develop cleaner forms of energy.
A key first step to breaking the hold of coal on the energy sector is to stop providing subsidies to the industry.
15 April—Washington D.C.—For the fourth consecutive year, the Friends of Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform organized a high-level event on energy subsidy reform in Washington D.C.