The G7 nations, as well as the EU, have made a commitment to phase out fossil fuel subsidies by 2025 as part of their implementation of the Paris Agreement, with the G20 committing to a phase out timeline unspecified. The IPCC, the UN Global Compact and the UN's Sustainable Development Goals all urge nations to undertake subsidy policy reform as a fundamental means of achieving ambitious climate goals. We analyse the G7 nations' words and actions, including a detailed analysis and scoring of what they have communicated to the UNFCCC process on this topic to date, and how this compares with actual policies and practices by the countries.
A year on from Paris, France comes top in the analysis of the G7 countries but there is significant misalignment among other members. Japan’s continued provision of $19bn a year program to fund fossil fuel production, including coal, in Asia is a major barrier to the G7 achieving their UNFCCC pledge to phase out subsidies by 2025.
This study uses definitions and research on fossil fuel subsidies developed by the international community International combined with InfluenceMap's recognized, policy scoring methodology to assess stated policy and practice within the G7 nations on fossil fuel subsidy reform amid the Marrakesh COP22 follow up to Paris.