Energy
News
Taxing new plastic is the cheapest way to address its environmental impact
The market is able to ignore the greater environmental burden of virgin plastics. Economists have known that the most efficient way to address this is to level the playing field by making users of virgin plastics pay for the added costs the virgin plastic adds to the globe.
‘Please put a price on carbon’, says Europe’s biggest utility
Countries need to put a price on carbon to help the world cut greenhouse gas emissions and limit climate warming to agreed targets, the head of Europe’s biggest utility said on Tuesday.
Fossil fuel industry gets subsidies of $11m a minute, IMF finds
The fossil fuel industry benefits from subsidies of $11m every minute, according to analysis by the International Monetary Fund. The IMF found the production and burning of coal, oil and gas was subsidised by $5.9tn in 2020, with not a single country pricing all its fuels sufficiently to reflect their full supply and environmental costs.
Reports
From pandemic to Paris: the inclusion of COVID-19 response in national climate commitments
Both climate change and COVID-19 are global public health crises threatening lives and livelihoods, increasing poverty, exacerbating inequalities, and damaging economic growth prospects. However, with
Switching it up: The effect of energy price reforms in Oman
Fresh UNIDO-led research in collaboration with the World Bank provides concrete evidence that removing fossil fuel subsidies would not only make environmental sense but would also improve
Taxing Energy Use for Sustainable Development: Opportunities for energy tax and subsidy reform in selected developing and emerging economies (OECD)
Economic recovery programmes provide opportunities for countries to focus on strategies for pursuing sustainable development, while taking the necessary steps to mobilise domestic resources. Sustainable
Policy Briefs
Carbon Pricing: Essential But Insufficient
The Center for Progressive Reform recently published an issue brief that explains how carbon pricing is necessary, and then argues that it is both practically
Policy Brief on Fossil Fuel Subsidies
Key messages: There is growing consensus that phasing out fossil fuel subsidies is an essential part of the green economy transformation, by sending the right
Stopping Payments to Polluters: Clearing the air with fossil fuel subsidy reform in China and India (GSI)
Addressing urban air pollution requires governments to reorient policies away from fossil fuel combustion. This Policy Brief by the Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI) explores one
