Resource Library of Subsidy Documents

Industry-specific reviews of government subsidies have been much more common than analyses examining several natural resource sectors at once. Yet there is a great deal of overlap across sectors. Indeed, it is the combination of support provided by multiple levels of government and government…

An overview on the varied approaches used to subsidize industries and how the scale of support flowing to fossil fuels and other environmentally harmful activities undermines efforts to decarbonize the economy and protect global biodiversity. The slides highlight how at present subsidies to fossil…

This article was originally published on Bloomberg Tax here. Reproduced with permission. Published January 13, 2023. Copyright 2023 by The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. (800-372-1033) 

The discussion of this topic within the Boston Area Sustainability Group started with reflections on the effectiveness of incentives to accelerate adoption of sustainability-minded solutions (e.g., residential/community solar, electric cars) and the creation of green jobs. That path quickly led…

Ron Steenblik and Doug Koplow join the Cosmopolicast (part of the Cosmopolitan Globalist) and hosts Claire Berlinski and Vivek Y. Kelkar for an hour of discussion about energy subsidies and environmentally-harmful subsidies. How did we end up working on this issue? How big are they? How can people…

Harvard Management Company is responsible for investing the Harvard endowment. The annual Climate Report is the primary way that HMC communicates with the general public on its actions to move the portfolio to net zero by 2050. Though this is the second year the Climate Report has been produced…

The United States has supported the development of its oil and gas industry since the early twentieth century. Despite repeated pledges to phase out 'inefficient' fossil fuel subsidies, US oil and gas production continues to be subsidized by billions of dollars each year. In this study, we quantify…

Harvard has the largest university endowment in the world.  Its investments are run by the affiliated Harvard Management Company (HMC), which operates under the Treasurer of the University and the Harvard Corporation.  The University has committed that the endowment will be net zero greenhouse gas…

Harvard Management Company (HMC), which manages Harvard University’s nearly $42 billion endowment, released its first Climate Report in February 2021.  As the largest university endowment in the world, decisions Harvard makes to tangibly and materially reduce the climate impact of its investments…

The Biden Administration’s commitment to identify and remove fossil fuel subsidies (Section 209 in the January 27, 2021 Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad) offers a great deal of promise.  Realizing the potential environmental gains implied by Section 209 will not…

When it comes to tackling the climate crisis, ending $400 billion of annual subsidies to the fossil-fuel industry worldwide seems like a no-brainer. For the past decade, world leaders have been resolving and reaffirming the need to phase them out. All of the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates…

In an effort to response to the widespread health and economic issues associated with the coronavirus pandemic, Congress has been working on legislative responses.  This is the second major stimulus bill, an initiative led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.  The bill provides roughly $1…

This article in Nature explains how subsidies affect fossil fuel investment and why they deserve greater attention in global modelling analyses.

It responds to a 2018 study in Nature that used the results of integrated assessment models to infer that eliminating subsidies would yield “limited…

This working paper identifies some of the major gaps in Harvard’s existing reporting on the climate impacts of its endowment; potential leverage points to address these gaps; and some next steps to develop solutions that protect investment flexibility for Harvard Management Company while greatly and…

These are the supporting slides to a presentation given in May 2019 in the Synapse Energy Economics webinar series.  The presentation provides an overview of the scope and magnitude of energy subsidies around the world, and discusses common issues that arise with regards to measurement and value…

For many years, policy discussions have focused on strategies to bring down greenhouse gas emissions using taxes, permits and other regulatory or statutory limits.  Yet fossil fuel markets across the world remain littered with government programs subsidizing these emissions.  The subsidies are large…

In its proposed tariffs to remove potential distortions caused by subsidies in capacity markets, PJM includes a number of limitations and exclusions that appear to result in unequal evaluation of subsidies across different fuel cycles. This will likely impede PJM’s core objective of ensuring…

This review assesses the House and Senate tax reform proposals as they relate to the energy sector. Three main areas are examined: cross-cutting changes to tax rates or baselines and whether some of them will have disproportionate or distortionary impacts on particular fuels; specific energy tax…

Countries in the G20 have committed to phase out ‘inefficient’ fossil fuel subsidies. However, there remains a limited understanding of how subsidy removal would affect fossil fuel investment returns and production, particularly for subsidies to producers. Here, we assess the impact of major federal…