By Date

According to latest data from the OECD and the IEA, government support for the production and use of fossil fuels across 81 major economies totalled USD 351 billion in 2020, amounting to USD 183 billion across 50 OECD, G20, and Eastern Partnership economies. While the difficulty of reform is evident from the range and complexity of challenges confronting governments in the phasing-out of fossil-fuel subsidies, APEC economy-led fossil-fuel subsidy peer reviews play a key role in pointing out commonly faced challenges, and present options to tackle them more effectively. This report is the first comprehensive attempt to document 'scalable' lessons and examples of good practice emerging from fossil-fuel subsidy peer reviews: taking stock of progress in their phase-out as reflected in the peer review reports, considering the role of the peer review process in promoting reform, and proposing potential ways to enhance the process. Eleven peer reviews are documented, seven of which were chaired by the OECD and four in which the IEA was a member of the review panel. Six of these peer reviews were conducted under the auspices of the G20, and four under APEC auspices, with the addition of the OECD-IEA review of the Netherlands, modelled on the G20 review process. The economies reviewed inventoried between three to thirty-nine measures, of an average self-declared value of USD 13 billion, for those reviews which quantified fossil fuel support measures. The 'scalable' lessons drawn from the peer reviews can be used to further spur progress towards rationalising and phasing out fossil-fuel subsidies, thanks to the insights on the approaches and good practices for designing the reform process. These insights include the need to accommodate for differing contexts, objectives and definitions; to prioritise inter-ministerial co-ordination; to promote active government and stakeholder participation; and to engage a cross-sectional peer review panel.

Brazil made significant progress in managing water resources since the adoption of the National Water Law in 1997 and the creation of the National Water and Sanitation Agency (ANA) in 2000. Nevertheless, water security challenges persist and will be aggravated by megatrends such as climate change, population growth, urbanisation, and the economic, social and environmental consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report calls for a modern approach to water security, balancing supply and demand management, grey and green infrastructure, and risk management and resilience while embracing a holistic view that connects water to other strategic areas such as environment, land use and territorial development. The report builds on a decade of policy dialogue between the OECD and the National Water and Sanitation Agency (ANA) of Brazil. It provides an action plan to support the country to: (1) shift from a risk-based approach to a resilience approach to understand vulnerabilities and minimise the duration and magnitude of failures; (2) make river basin organisations deliver and use economic instruments to tackle water risks; and (3) accompany infrastructure development with regulatory oversight and monitoring.

This new web format for Country Notes on Fossil Fuel Support provides interactive on-line access to the latest data from the OECD Inventory of Support Measures for Fossil Fuels by country – identifying and estimating the value of support arising from policies that encourage the production or consumption of fossil fuels. The web version allows users to download, share and play with the data. Interactive graphics enable data visualisation, in national currency, by beneficiary and by energy product. These Country Notes provide, for each of the 50 economies covered in the Inventory, a snapshot of energy market structure, the current state of energy prices and taxes, and recent developments and trends in fossil fuel support. Data and country notes for the EU Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries have been collected and prepared as part of the GREEN Action Task Force.