15 August 2013: The International Institute for Sustainable Development’s (IISD) Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI) has published a new policy brief recommending actions for United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Parties to undertake on fossil-fuel subsidy reform. IISD highlights that the actions do not require parties to wait until an agreement is negotiated to have an impact.

The policy brief addresses the importance of fossil-fuel subsidy reform in the context of meeting global climate change mitigation goals, elaborates on the concrete actions Parties can take to progress reform, and describes how efforts under the auspices of the UNFCCC will complement similar work in other international fora.

In particular, the GSI recommends that Parties to the UNFCCC: propose options for addressing fossil-fuel subsidy reform under Workstream 2 in country submissions to the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP); explore fossil-fuel subsidy reform as a possible nationally appropriate mitigation action (NAMA); raise fossil-fuel subsidy reform in submissions to the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA); include fossil-fuel subsidy reform on the agenda of the proposed ministerial meeting on energy efficiency and renewable energy at COP 19 in Warsaw; and voluntarily report on fossil-fuel subsidies and steps toward reform as part of national communications, biennial reports and biennial update reports. [Press release] [Publication: Prioritizing Fossil-Fuel Subsidy Reform in the UNFCCC Process: Recommendations for Short-term Actions]