Defining fossil-fuel subsidies for the G-20: which approach is best?
The Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI) recommends a three-step process to define, measure and evaluate subsidies; this process starts with a broad, crosssectoral application that narrows throughout the process. The benefits of this approach are that it is flexible enough to cover different national priorities and varying subsidy profiles, it is practical (with illustrative lists for policy-makers and subsidy estimation challenges taken into account), it is aligned with existing international obligations such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) and it paves the way for providing consistent treatment across sectors. This paper outlines a three-step process that could be applied to any sector, but draws on examples from the energy sector in particular and makes recommendations for how the G-20 could adopt the process for fossil-fuel subsidy reform.