OECD at COP16: Cut Fossil Fuel Subsidies!

Published 11th December 2010 - 1 comments - 825 views -

“Cut fossil fuel subsidies in developing and emerging economies”, demanded A. Gurria, Secretary General of OECD. Agriculture is no more the highest subsidy as in the EU. “Now we see that subsidies go to fossil fuels. We are talking finance, here – we encourage other countries to consume more fossil fuel.”

“Eliminating subsidies will cut emissions by 10% until 2050. This an instant measure, it is not a process. Just eliminate subsidies for fossil fuels and apparently the whole world will economize and reduce emissions.”

Market based instruments are first best choices, he stated. Carbon schemes, they raise money and we can support the pressing needs like health and education.

Background info:
The OECD has been working on climate change economics and policy since the late 1980s. The OECD works closely with governments to assist them to identify and implement least-cost policies to reduce GHG emissions in order to limit climate change, as well as to integrate adaptation to climate change into all relevant sectors and policy areas. As OECD countries are the major international donors, OECD has a critical role in tracking climate finance, and in examining how public finance can be scaled-up and best targeted to help leverage private financial flows.

In the wake of the economic crisis, the OECD is also looking at how measures that governments are taking to spur economic growth can best be formulated so that they support – and do not work against – the objectives of moving towards a green, low-carbon economy. Given the global nature of the climate change challenge, and its widespread economic, social and environmental impacts, the OECD is in a unique position to assist countries put climate policy on a solid economic footing consistent with frameworks for development. Work on climate change is underway across the OECD, engaging government representatives from a range of Ministries. This brochure provides an overview of the recent OECD work on climate change.

Category: Alternative Energies, | Tags:

Raul Cazan
Bucharest, Romania
Environmental Journalist, 2Celsius Network

For two years, Raul was the Editor-in-Chief of the only Romanian environmental magazine, Green Report, a product among few of the kind in Eastern Europe. Beyond his Law degree from the University of Bucharest, Raul’s interests revolve around environmental journalism and communications, enhancing topics surrounding the politics of climate change and food security. Raul holds two Master’s Degrees in political science and development from the Central European University Budapest and University of Trento, Italy. He collaborated with the World Wildlife Fund - Danube Carpathian Program, founded the Slow Food Bucharest chapter and acted as an environmental law consultant in Brussels. Between 2009 and 2010 he was International Grassroots Outreach Fellow at Earth Day Network in Washington,D.C. His latest project consists of setting-up an open virtual platform, named 2Celsius.net, regarding climate change and the green collar economy in Central and Eastern Europe. His big passion is cycling, thus he is making it a socially valued activity by promoting and carrying out "bike charity" projects such as RideAcross.eu.

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