Subsidy WatchIssue 34, December 2009


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Analysis

  • Kenya to launch pilot food-security program, using cash transfers

    The government of Kenya has launched the pilot phase of a subsidy program which aims to provide poor Kenyans with a monthly cash allowance to meet their basic food needs. At a news conference held in Nairobi on 4 November, Prime Minister Raila Odinga announced that the government would be transferring US$20 a month to 20,000 Kenyan families living in Nairobi slums for the next nine months.

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  • Energy subsidies: can Iran kick the habit?
    Dousa Daneshdoust

    The Iranian government recently announced their intention to phase out several of its subsidies. The reform bill, the outlines of which were approved by the parliament in November, aims to eliminate subsidies over a five year period, the most notable being Iran's fossil-fuel subsidies. The reforms will also apply to subsidies for water, food and some services (post, rail and air transportation for passengers).

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News

  • Green Economy Coalition call on G-20 Finance Ministers for fast and fair fossil-fuel phase out

    In November, the Green Economy Coalition wrote to the G-20 finance ministers ahead of their meeting in Scotland to outline how to remove fossil-fuel subsidies, stressing the need for a prompt phase-out of the subsidies in a way that ensures the poorest consumers are not adversely affected.

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  • Oil and coal lobbies call for carbon-capture subsidies

    On 9 November, Ottawa's Globe and Mail reported that companies engaged in extracting Canada's oil sands were calling for state aid to help them adopt carbon-capture-and-storage (CCS) technology.

    A report, Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage: A Canadian Clean Energy Opportunity, released by the Integrated CO2 Network (ICO2N), which represents Canada's major oil companies and coal-based utilities, makes its claim on environmental and economic grounds.

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  • Wasteful renewable-energy subsidies exposed by The Oregonian’s Harry Esteve

    According to an investigative report published on 31 October by Harry Esteve in The Oregonian newspaper, the administration of Ted Kulongoski, Oregon's Governor, intentionally underestimated the true cost of a tax credit created to subsidize renewable energy, in order to get it passed by the State Legislature.

    The Business Energy Tax Credit (BETC), was introduced in order to attract green investments to the State. In 2006, the state government decided to increase the maximum subsidy for each project from US$ 2.5 million to US$ 20 million.

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Studies

  • GSI publishes The Politics of Fossil-Fuel Subsidies

    This November, the Global Subsidies Initiative released the first of its series of reports on fossil-fuel subsidies, The Politics of Fossil-Fuel Subsidies.

    The report, written by David Victor, Director of Stanford University's Laboratory on International Law and Regulation, investigates the logic behind the creation and endurance of perverse subsidies: despite the seemingly obvious problems they cause, entrenched vested interests among beneficiaries can create political obstacles to reform.

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  • ‘Reform the CAP’ website

    The European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE) and the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) are supporting a new website lobbying for reform of the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), ‘Reform the CAP'.

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Events

  • COP 15 Global Subsidies Initiative side-event: “Phasing out Fossil-Fuel Subsidies: Moving from Rhetoric to Reform”

    Though long overdue, the issue of fossil-fuel subsidies suddenly became the focus of international attention when G-20 leaders, meeting in Pittsburgh on 24-25 September 2009, agreed to phase out such subsidies over the medium term. While the underlying rationale for fossil-fuel subsidy reform is compelling and the goal is 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 call for proposals: Canadian oil industry study

    The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) is conducting a research program on fossil-fuel subsidies as part of its Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI).

    We are currently welcoming proposals for a case study on subsidies to the petroleum industry in Canada. The report will form part of a series researching subsidies to specific energy sectors in both developing and developed countries. Its aim is to provide valuable input to the GSI's ongoing work to build a global picture of the size and scale of fossil-fuel subsidies with a view to promoting subsidy reform.

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