Environmental Financial Reform

Phase-out 2020 - Monitoring Europe’s fossil fuel subsidies

Under the Paris Agreement, European governments and the European Union (EU) are committed to a low-carbon transition, with a goal of net zero emissions by the second half of this century, while making ‘finance flows consistent’ with that pathway. If European governments are to achieve this, they must phase out their support to the production and consumption of fossil fuels. Shifting government support away from fossil fuel production and consumption is also an important means of achieving Europe’s wider economic, social and environmental objectives. These include unlocking government resources for public goods, such as education, as part of wider fiscal reform; levelling the playing field for clean energy and energy savings; and improving public health by reducing air and water pollution. Rhetorically at least, European governments have promised to end their support to fossil fuels. The EU and all its Member States have committed to phasing out environmentally harmful subsidies, including those to fossil fuels, by 2020. European governments have made parallel pledges to end inefficient fossil fuel subsidies under the G7 and the G20.