US, China to publish fossil fuel subsidy peer reviews
At the G20 summit in September China, the host country, and the US will present a peer review of each other’s fossil fuel subsidies, becoming the first two countries to do so under the G20.
Following years of feet-dragging on the question of subsidy reform, the review hints at progress on the creation of a new shared governance model.
The review, countries hope, will lead to clear actions, taken on a voluntary, bottom-up basis; and to the adoption of a practical and effective model of bilateral cooperation within a multilateral framework.
In China, this is the first time the government has formed a cross-departmental, cross-sector group of experts to systematically examine the state of fossil fuel subsidies, undertaken with the aim of building a long-term domestic energy and subsidy strategy.
For both China and the US, it is also an opportunity to use the international stage to force domestic policy change.
The review
Numerous researchers have analysed the scale of fossil fuel subsidies, how to reform them, and the impact of those reforms. But those outcomes have largely been neglected.
In the aftermath of the global financial crash in 2008 the benefits of ending fossil fuel subsidies became more apparent.
In economic terms, governments could save spending. In social terms, getting rid of price supports would end a system that tends to benefit those with higher incomes; and environmentally, it would discourage unnecessary consumption of fossil fuels and, as a result, help tackle a range of environmental problems.
The review provides actual experience of how to use the “inventory method” to analyse fossil fuel subsidies, particularly when dealing with cross-subsidies; and of how to use non-G20 cooperative mechanisms, such as the China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue, to further other processes.
US, China to publish fossil fuel subsidy peer reviews | Climate Home - climate change news
At the G20 summit in September China, the host country, and the US will present a peer review of each other’s fossil fuel subsidies, becoming the first two countries to do so under the G20.
Following years of feet-dragging on the question of subsidy reform, the review hints at progress on the creation of a new shared governance model.
The review, countries hope, will lead to clear actions, taken on a voluntary, bottom-up basis; and to the adoption of a practical and effective model of bilateral cooperation within a multilateral framework.
In China, this is the first time the government has formed a cross-departmental, cross-sector group of experts to systematically examine the state of fossil fuel subsidies, undertaken with the aim of building a long-term domestic energy and subsidy strategy.
For both China and the US, it is also an opportunity to use the international stage to force domestic policy change.
The review
Numerous researchers have analysed the scale of fossil fuel subsidies, how to reform them, and the impact of those reforms. But those outcomes have largely been neglected.
In the aftermath of the global financial crash in 2008 the benefits of ending fossil fuel subsidies became more apparent.
In economic terms, governments could save spending. In social terms, getting rid of price supports would end a system that tends to benefit those with higher incomes; and environmentally, it would discourage unnecessary consumption of fossil fuels and, as a result, help tackle a range of environmental problems.
The review provides actual experience of how to use the “inventory method” to analyse fossil fuel subsidies, particularly when dealing with cross-subsidies; and of how to use non-G20 cooperative mechanisms, such as the China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue, to further other processes.
US, China to publish fossil fuel subsidy peer reviews | Climate Home - climate change news
