Subsidy WatchIssue 22, April 2008


  • Biofuels in developing countries: from idealism, to realism, and back

    By Laurens Rademakers, Editor, Biochar Fund

    A few years ago, a group of young social scientists decided to team up to study the opportunities for least developed countries (LDCs) to produce biofuels. Given a set of objective parameters - the presence of large rural populations, optimal agro-ecological conditions for energy crops, the urgent need for rural development, and the rising price of oil - it looked like a biofuel industry could play a promising role in socio-economic development.

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Also in this issue:

News

  • Jordan and Syria rethink fuel subsidies as crude prices continue to soar

    With crude prices reaching highs of over US$ 110 a barrel in March, many countries in the habit of subsidizing fuel continue to feel the pressure to abandon those policies. This is particularly so in some Middle East countries that have traditionally provided heavily subsidized fuel for their populations.

    In those countries that were not blessed with large petroleum endowments, the current rise in crude prices has meant prohibitive subsidy bills, resulting in unmanageable budget deficits and growing national debts.

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  • US Cotton Council prevented from advertising itself as ‘sustainable’ in the UK

    The United Kingdom's advertising authority has barred a U.S. cotton industry group from promoting itself as "sustainable" owing to its subsidies and negative impacts on the environment.

    The ruling from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) follows a complaint by Jack Thurston, co-founder of Farmsubsidy.org, a group that publishes information about agricultural subsidies in Europe. Mr.

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  • EU farm subsidy recipients to be revealed in 2009

    The European Commission and EU member states will publish the names of farm subsidy recipients, and the amounts they receive, on the Web, beginning 30 April 2009.

    The websites will put into practice regulations adopted in 2006, in which the Member States agreed to publish a list of all recipients of EU agricultural subsidies for each financial year.

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Studies

  • Study puts Australian government investment funds under scrutiny

    An Australian non-profit organization, the Australian Conservation Foundation, has examined Australian government investment funds to determine the extent to which environmental, social and governance (ESG) concerns are being taken into account.

    The report finds wide variance among Australian states and territories. Some government funds, such as in NSW, South Australia and Western Australia do not seem to take ESG concerns into account when investing. These result in a number of cases of policy incoherence: investments that seem to be in contradiction with a government's policy goals.

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  • Australian government releases 2006-07 subsidy review

    Australia has released a review of its government assistance to industry for 2006-07, including subsidies, tax incentives and tariffs.

    Among the highest receivers of government support are the automotive sector, textiles and the dairy industry. The total bill for the measures covered in the review amounts to A$ 15.7 billion gross, or A$ 8 billion net.

    The review, produced by the Australian Government Productivity Commission, comments that "assistance generally benefits the industry that receives it but can penalise other industries, as well as taxpayers and consumers."

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  • Research and Development money has had little impact on energy supplies in the United States

    A report from United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) alleges that the billions of dollars spent on research and development into alternative fuels by the Department of Energy (DOE) has done little to lessen the country's dependence on fossil fuels.

    Some US$ 60 billion has been invested in R&D on so-called advanced energy technologies by the U.S. DOE over the last 30 years, but consumption from traditional fuels has remained relatively stable: today fossil fuels supply 85 percent of U.S. energy consumption compared with 93 percent in 1973.

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