A coalition of more than 40 stakeholders (companies, think tanks and NGOs) has called on the European Union and its Member States on Monday 7 June to end public subsidies for fossil fuel consumption.
“The Member States should transparently report on their fossil fuel subsidies and commit to a bold and achievable timetable to phase them out”, the organisations write.
Deploring a lack of transparency and accountability due to the absence of a single definition of fossil fuel subsidies, the signatories target a number of “indirect subsidies” such as lower taxes or tax exemptions for commercial fuels in the aviation, transport, fisheries, power generation and shipping sectors, as well as for coal, gas and oil production and extraction.
They also point to the granting of State aid or exemption from duties and taxes through EU funds or free allowances under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).
They therefore call on the EU to introduce a single, comprehensive definition of fossil fuel subsidies, as well as to “tax all energy products and activities according to their energy and carbon content and to internalise pollution costs and impacts on the environment”.
See the statement: https://bit.ly/2SiuQZZ (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)