Newswise — The International Institute for Sustainable Development’s Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI) is encouraged that increasing pressure from the international community may be the catalyst needed to ensure fossil fuel subsidy reform is high on the climate change agenda of the G20 summit in Toronto this month.
This follows a GSI meeting in Paris last week, where New Zealand announced it will spearhead a campaign of support for reform with the establishment of the Friends of Fossil-Fuel Subsidy Reform. The informal group’s membership is expected to comprise a small number of interested, credible and committed developed and developing non-G20 countries.
The Friends are committed to working with the G20 as it tackles a politically and economically complex initiative for reform that offers an effective means to address climate change mitigation and develop trade and environment policies for sustainable development.
“Despite the clear economic and environmental benefits, as well as the urgent need for governments to reduce debt, there have been very few signs of progress of fossil-fuel subsidy reform,” said Mark Halle, IISD director of trade and investment.
“The new Friends group comes at a crucial time when more political leadership is needed to champion the reform process” said Halle.
GSI has recently issued a comprehensive, five-part assessment of fossil-fuel subsides and estimates governments are spending about US$500 billion a year on policies that undermine sustainable development. Untold Billions: Fossil-fuel subsidies, their impacts and the path to reform provides necessary research and analysis to support the commitment by the G20 and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum to phase out inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies.
“Fossil-fuel subsidy reform offers real opportunities for G20 countries to advance more global economic and climate change agendas, while reducing expenditures at home,” Halle said. “The establishment of the Friends demonstrates the high-level interest and discussions on this important issue. It is important not to lose the momentum at this critical time.”
About IISDIISD contributes to sustainable development by advancing policy recommendations on international trade and investment, economic policy, climate change and energy, measurement and assessment, and natural resources management, and the enabling role of communication technologies in these areas
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