Energy Subsidies in Other Countries

BRUSSELS – 4 December – An IISD-led seminar, A Global Perspective on Biofuel Subsidies Reform in the EU, gathered policy-makers and stakeholders from business and civil society at the European Parliament, with co-hosts GLOBE EU and Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy, MEP.

BRUSSELS – 17 October 2012 – The European Commission released today a legislative proposal that would reduce support to conventional biofuels while creating additional incentives for advanced biofuels.

The GSI releases two papers reviewing the literature on subsidies to different energy technologies: in a paper on electricity generation, looking at fossil fuels, renewable energy and nuclear power; and in a paper on transport fuel, looking at fossil fuels and biofuels.

A summary of major events in April and May 2011.

Following announcements that fossil-fuel subsidies will be phased out, from the G-20, the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and a number of independent countries, including Iran, Nigeria and Bahrain, Subsidy Watch has decided each month to highlight important news stories that touch on this theme.

Last November, the Financial Times published an article charging that U.S.-produced ethanol is collecting U.S. tax credits before being shipped to Europe, where it also qualifies for favorable tax treatment. I covered this story in "Taxpayer Subsidized Ethanol Exports May Bite Industry in the Future". The gist of my article was that if this charge is true, it completely undermines the supposed reasons U.S. taxpayers are subsidizing ethanol in the first place: to reduce dependence on foreign oil. In fact, as I showed in a later article, any ethanol that is exported actually increases U.S. dependence on foreign oil because it takes some oil to make the ethanol and then ship it to the export market.

Following announcements that fossil-fuel subsidies will be phased out, from the G-20, the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and a number of independent countries, including Iran, Nigeria and Bahrain, Subsidy Watch has decided each month to highlight important news stories that touch on this theme.

In March 2007, European Union members agreed that 20% of energy needs will be sourced from renewable energy by 2020. Many EU governments reacted by pouring billions of euros in subsidies into their wind- and solar-energy industries.