SUSTAINABLE & CLEAN ENERGY | ENERGY EFFICIENCY | LOW CARBON DEVELOPMENT | CLIMATE CHANGE | ___________ TECHNOLOGY | POLICY | INVESTMENT

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Fossil-Fuel Subsidies in the Crosshairs at World Bank Spring Meetings

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim made headlines on the eve of the annual spring meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund last week with this simple declaration: “We need to get rid of fossil fuel subsidies now.” With the consumption of these subsidies reaching $550 billion in 2013, there is a lot of work to be done. Cutting fossil-fuel subsidies is a logical component of the World Bank’s efforts to promote carbon pricing. Subsidies are, in effect, a negative carbon price that incentivizes carbon pollution at the very moment countries around the world need to reduce it. At the U.N. Climate Summit last September, the Word Bank built a coalition of 73 nations and 11 regional governments that expressed support for a price on carbon. More than 1,000 companies and investors signed on to the declaration as well.  Read more at https://www.americanprogress.org