GLOBAL SUBSIDIES INITIATIVE
GSI outreach: shaping the agenda for reform
The GSI is committed to on-going outreach to policy-makers and the global media, communicating our knowledge of fossil-fuel subsidies and best practice for successful reform.
On 25 September 2009, the Leaders of the Group of Twenty (G-20) met in Pittsburgh, PA, and agreed to phase out fossil-fuel subsidies. The Global Subsidies Initiative is committed to ensuring that this process be as fair and transparent as possible, taking into account producer as well as consumer subsidies and implementing measures to secure the welfare of the poor.
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GSI Policy Brief - A How-to Guide: Measuring subsidies to fossil-fuel producers
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GSI Policy Brief - A How-to Guide: Measuring subsidies to fossil-fuel producers (2.27 MB)GENEVA - 29 July 2010 - In our March 2010 policy brief Defining fossil-fuel subsidies for the G-20: Which approach is best?, the GSI addressed how fossil-fuel subsidies can be defined, as the start of a 3-stage process for planning fossil-fuel subsidy reform: define, measure and evaluate.
This policy brief goes on to the second stage, identifying how different types of subsidy can be measured using different methodologies, referring readers to the relevant section of our in-depth technical report for more information, Subsidy Estimation: a survey of current practice. Although it focuses on how to measure producer subsidies, a brief explanation of calculating consumer subsidies is also provided.
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GSI policy brief - Delivering on the G-20 commitment to reform fossil-fuel subsidies: essential outcomes from Toronto
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Event: GSI presents latest fossil-fuel subsidy research as NZ launches Friends of Reform group
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New Zealand announces Friends of Fossil-Fuel Subsidy Reform groupPARIS – 3 June 2010 – The Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI) presented its latest research on fossil-fuel subsidies today in an event at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) headquarters in Paris, emphasizing in particular the challenges involved in understanding subsidies to the producers of fossil fuels. The event also hosted speakers from the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who announced a new initiative to support reform, and the French Ministry of Finance, who provided an update on the G-20's commitment to rationalize and phase out fossil-fuel subsidies, in anticipation of the G-20 Leaders' Summit on 26-27 June in Toronto.
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Press release: GSI tackles reform of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies ahead of G-20 meeting of finance ministers
GENEVA—April 21, 2010—The International Institute for Sustainable Development's Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI) has issued a five-part series of reports into how nations might remove fossil-fuel subsidies, on the eve of a meeting of G-20 finance ministers in Washington this week.
GSI's 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.
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GSI policy brief - Defining fossil-fuel subsidies for the G-20: which approach is best?
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GSI policy brief - Defining fossil-fuel subsidies for the G-20: which approach is best?The G-20's efforts to progress fossil-fuel subsidy reform have revived an old debate: what is a subsidy?
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Event: GSI moderates COP15 discussion on how to make fossil-fuel subsidy reform happen
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OECD, GSI and IEA discuss why and how to eliminate fossil-fuel subsidiesCOPENHAGEN - 14 December 2009 - The Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI) invites speakers and observers from a range of Group of Twenty (G-20) governments, inter-governmental and non-governmental organisations, as well as the private sector, to focus on how the G-20's September 2009 political commitment to phase out fossil-fuel subsidies can be translated into effective reform. While the underlying rationale is tremendously compelling and the goal patently clear, the challenge now lies in implementation: collecting the data, countering political reticence and resistance from entrenched interests, and softening the impact of higher energy prices on the poor.
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GSI policy brief: Building fossil-fuel subsidy reform: have we got all the blocks?
Over the last three months of 2009, calls for the phasing out of fossil-fuel subsidies by the G-20 and others have garnered widespread support. Now policy-makers face the challenge: how should a political call for reform be transformed into coherent action?
This policy brief outlines the building blocks needed to implement a multilateral program to reform fossil-fuel subsidies on a global scale.
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GSI policy brief - Car-scrapping schemes: an effective economic rescue policy?
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Car-scrapping schemes: an effective economic rescue policy?Financial and economic turmoil and a global recession were common concerns in the aftermath of America's mortgage crisis. Following the German example, a large number of countries introduced "car-scrapping" schemes as part of their economic stimulus packages - policies which gave vehicle owners state money to trade in their old vehicles for new, more efficient ones.
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GSI in the news: Senior Economist Peter Wooders talks about fossil-fuel subsidies with Radio Australia's Pacific Beat
On Tuesday 10 November, GSI's Senior Economist Peter Wooders was interviewed about fossil-fuel subsidies by Geraldine Coutts on Radio Australia's Pacific Beat.
In this five minute interview, he discusses the global price tag on fossil-fuel subsidies, how this money could be better spent and the barriers these subsidies pose to investment in renewable energy technologies. He also outlines the role to be played by the G-20 and how they can be pressured to deliver on their promise for fossil-fuel subsidy reform, as called upon by the Green Economy Coalition.
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Green Economy Coalition calls on G-20 Finance Ministers for fast and fair implementation of fossil-fuel subsidy phase-out
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Press Release: G-20 wastes hundreds of billions on perverse fossil-fuel subsidies, says global coalition
Letter from the Green Economy Coalition to G-20 Ministers of Finance6 November 2009 – IISD-Europe Executive Director Mark Halle has signed a letter from the Green Economy Coalition to the G-20 Finance Ministers to end perverse fossil-fuel subsidies. IISD is a founding member of the coalition, which focuses on the policy changes needed to transform the global economy into one that is clean, green and equitable.
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GSI policy brief: achieving the G-20 call to phase out subsidies to fossil fuels
The recent announcement by the Leaders of the Group of Twenty (G-20), who met 24-25 September, 2009 in Pittsburgh, PA, finally gives recognition to the opportunity represented by fossil-fuel subsidy reform: to save money at the same time as reducing carbon dioxide and other harmful emissions. But there is much more to implementing reform than political statements and off-the-shelf solutions.
www.globalsubsidies.org
- Email:
- info [at] globalsubsidies [dot] org
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