Laura Merrill, Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI) Manager and Senior Policy Advisor at the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), and Nina Quintas, take us through the evolution of fossil fuel subsides (FFS) reforms in a recently published blog post.
In the past decade, a combination of reform efforts and a decrease in international prices for crude oil allowed governments to implement much needed reform plans. FFS to consumers almost halved between 2012 and 2016.
The GSI has mapped countries implementing some level of FFS reform between 2015 and 2018. They find that around fifty countries have implemented some level of policy change.
However, they note that a recent rise in oil prices in the international market led to a slight increase in consumer price support for subsidies in 2017. Nevertheless, the increase in consumption subsidies is less than the increase in oil prices, which shows there is still a level of ongoing reform.
Reforming FFSs, shifting to renewable energy, and increased energy efficiency offers governments protection from the volatility of international oil prices. Nonetheless, country experience in this domain varies. On one hand, countries such as India have been succeeding in many different aspects when phasing out FFSs, while others, such as Indonesia, have been struggling to maintain those efforts.
Please access the full post through this link.
