IEA boss says slashing of fossil fuel subsidies is the main policy item for tackling climate change
Mon 24 October 2011
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The International Energy Agency's Chief Economist, Fatih Birol, has called on world policy makers to cut hundreds of billions of dollars of subsidies to the fossil fuel industry or face potentially catastrophic climate change. Birol said that $409bn equivalent of fossil fuel subsidies are in place which encourage developing countries - where most energy demand and CO2 emissions increases will come from - towards a wasteful use of energy.
Fatih Birol told EurActiv in an exclusive interview that cutting such subsidies in major non-OECD countries is “the one single policy item” which could help reorient the world towards a trajectory of 2 degrees global warming. It would also reduce CO2 emissions and help renewable energies such as solar and wind power to get a bigger market share, according to the IEA's World Energy Outlook 2011 report which will be released on 9 November.
Analysis in the report “indicates that the door for a 2 degrees trajectory may be closing if we do not act urgently and boldly,” Birol said.
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