More than 200 civil society organisations have joined together to urge G20 governments to commit to end fossil fuel subsidies by 2020. The statement comes ahead of this week’s meeting of the G20 energy ministers, including from Germany, the UK, France and Italy and the EU Commissioner for Climate Action discussing investments in sustainable energy.
Environmental groups, campaigners and researchers have come together to sign a joint statement which calls for governments to set a clear timetable to phase out fossil fuel subsidies as well as public finance for oil gas and coal production.
The statement also urges G20 governments to commit to full transparency about fossil fuel subsidies from 2017 onwards and to include all commitments in the 2016 G20 communique ahead of this year’s summit in September.
Recent research by the Overseas Development Institute and Oil Change International found G20 governments spend $444 billion every year to support fossil fuel production.
Wendel Trio, Director at CAN Europe said: “The Paris Agreement is a game-changer that requires the G20, including the EU, to speedily transition away from polluting fossil fuels. We expect the EU to demonstrate its climate leadership role and translate it into a clear G20 deadline to phase out fossil fuel subsidies by 2020”.
ENDS
Contact:
Caroline Westblom, CAN Europe Communications Officer, caroline@caneurope.org, +32 484 566 239
Wendel Trio, CAN Europe Director, wendel@caneurope.org, +32 473 170 887
Notes:
The statement, signed by more than 200 civil society organisations is published on Tuesday, June 28 and available here.
The meeting of G20 energy ministers will take place in Beijing on Wednesday, June 29, and Thursday, June 30
The November 2015 report from ODI and OCI, ‘Empty promises: G20 subsidies to oil, gas and coal production’, found G20 governments spent $444 billion a year to support fossil fuel production – via national subsidies ($70 billion), investments by state-owned enterprises ($286 billion) and public finance ($88 billion)
The G20 Leader’s Summit 2016 will take place on September 4-5 in Hangzhou
Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe is Europe’s largest coalition working on climate and energy issues. With over 130 member organisations in more than 30 European countries – representing over 44 million citizens – CAN Europe works to prevent dangerous climate change and promote sustainable climate and energy policy in Europe.
