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Govts, businesses, ERA seek end to fossil fuel subsidies 

By Chinedum Uwaegbulam
11 January 2016   |   4:30 am
AN unprecedented coalition of close to 40 governments, hundreds of businesses and influential international organisations has called today for accelerated action to phase out fossil fuel subsidies, a move that would help bridge the gap to keep global temperature rise below 2°C. In a communiqué presented by the Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform to Christiana Figueres,…
United Nations

United Nations

AN unprecedented coalition of close to 40 governments, hundreds of businesses and influential international organisations has called today for accelerated action to phase out fossil fuel subsidies, a move that would help bridge the gap to keep global temperature rise below 2°C.

In a communiqué presented by the Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform to Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), they called on the international community to increase efforts to phase out perverse subsidies to fossil fuels by promoting policy transparency, ambitious reform and targeted support for the poorest.

Governments spend over $500 billion of public resources a year to keep domestic prices for oil, gas and coal artificially low. Removing fossil fuel subsidies would reduce greenhouse gas emission by 10 per cent by 2050. It would also free up resources to invest in social and physical capital like education, healthcare and infrastructure, while leveling the playing field for renewable energy.

Close to 40 countries have endorsed the Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform communiqué, including Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Samoa, the United Kingdom, the United States, Uganda and Uruguay.

The communiqué is supported by The Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group (CLG) – 23 global companies employing two million people worldwide with combined revenues exceeding $170 billion) and other business organisations working with thousands of corporations and investors, including The B Team, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD – and the We Mean Business coalition. The Communiqué has also been endorsed by influential international organisations including the International Energy Agency, the OECD and the World Bank.

CLG members are committed to playing a leadership role in securing a just, low-carbon transition, both in terms of changing their own businesses and sectors, and advocating change in the wider economic and political context. At a minimum the CLG supports the goal of achieving net zero emissions globally well before 2100. The CLG has galvanised tangible business momentum for this goal through the Trillion Tonne Communique, signed by over 160 companies.

CLG members are: 3M, Acciona, Anglian Water Group, BT, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Doosan, DSM, EDF Energy, Ferrovial, GlaxoSmithKline, Heathrow, Iberdrola, Interface, Jaguar Land Rover, Kingfisher, Lloyds Banking Group, Philips, Skanska, Sky, Tesco, Thames Water, Unilever, United Technologies.

Eliminating fossil fuel subsidies can accelerate the economic shift needed to tackle climate change and remove one of the obstacles to delivering the low-carbon future.

Commenting on the development, the Executive Director, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, Dr. Godwin Ojo, stressed, “We do not want to phase out subsidies, but want to phase out fossil fuel dependency to reduce rise in global temperature. We also need to transit to renewable sources of energy in decentralised non-grid solar systems that is co-produced and owned by producers and consumers so that responsibilities and benefits a can be shared.”

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key who made formally on behalf of the Friends of Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform during the UN Conference on Climate Change (COP21), said: “Fossil fuel subsidy reform is the missing piece of the climate change puzzle. It’s estimated that more than a third of global carbon emissions, between 1980 and 2010, were driven by fossil fuel subsidies.

“Their elimination would represent one-seventh of the effort needed to achieve our target of ensuring global temperatures do not rise by more than 2°C. As with any subsidy reform, change will take courage and strong political will, but with oil prices at record lows and the global focus on a low carbon future – the timing for this reform has never been better.”

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