The IEA is producing two detailed assessments on nuclear energy in the coming months. The first, a chapter in their vaunted World Energy Outlook, will examine in detail the prospects and challenges to nuclear energy going forward. The second, produced jointly with NEA, will update their Technology…
A number of disincentives to recycling have been frequently, especially in analyses sponsored by EPA in the late 1970's, as impeding the expansion of materials recovery. The most commonly cited examples include the tax code, federal subsidies for natural resource development, trade policies and…
It is now clear that the federal corn ethanol mandate has driven up food prices, strained agricultural markets, increased competition for arable land and promoted conversion of uncultivated land to grow crops. In addition, previous estimates have dramatically underestimated corn ethanol's…
This paper examines the fundamental choice policymakers are being asked to make. It reviews the prospects for nuclear technology in light of the past and present performance of nuclear power (Section I), assesses the economic and safety challenges that SMR technology faces (Section II) when…
The pace and scale of oil sands mining continues to increase in Alberta despite a poor understanding of the environmental liabilities: costs associated with the environmental impacts throughout the life of a mine. In Toxic Liability, the Pembina Institute has compiled the first public estimate of…
Fossil fuel subsidies have allowed energy exporting countries to distribute resource revenue, bolstering legitimacy for governments, many of which are not democratically elected. But subsidy benefits are dwarfed by the harmful consequences of encouraging uneconomic use of energy. Now, with…
Complex security, environmental, and economic trade-offs remain the norm for the energy sector. Government intervention is also the norm, and too often involves a torrent of energy plans, white-papers, and legislation. In an ideal world, government policies should work in tandem with market…
Complex security, environmental, and economic trade-offs remain the norm for the energy sector. Government intervention is also the norm, and too often involves a torrent of energy plans, white-papers, and legislation. In an ideal world, government policies should work in tandem with market…
Large natural gas finds off the coast of Israel create significant financial and energy challenges for a State long focused on high technology exports and alternative energy development. To address these concerns, Israel has already implemented study commissions and proposed a Sovereign Wealth Fund…
Keynote presentation at the Expert Workshop on Subsidies to Fossil Fuels and Climate Mitigation Policies in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), held at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, DC on January 14, 2014. Slides review recent global estimates of fossil fuel subsidies…
This report documents the scale of fossil fuel subsidies and sets out a practical agenda for their elimination in the context of the global goal of tackling climate change. It spells out the real costs of fossil fuel subsidies within the top developed-country emitters (the E11), the G20, and more…
Sara Gersen, Nina Robertson, Sylvia Chi, Jordan Diamond, Lisa Goldman, and John Pendergrass
Posted on:
10/1/2013
This analysis identifies a number of federal programs supporting coal, including some that while not directly targeted at coal provide significant benefit to the coal sector. In total these subsidies provided approximately $25.4 billion in financial support for coal production, transport, use, or…
This report describes organized attacks on climate science, scientists and scientific institutions like the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (the IPCC), that have gone on for more than 20 years. It sets out some of the key moments in this campaign of climate denial started by the…
The EU biofuels industry has increased its use of palm oil by 365 per cent over 2006-2012, from 0.4 to 1.9 million tonnes per year. The additional demand can be linked primarily to the growth in biodiesel production stimulated by government policies (primarily purchase mandates) during the same…
Mycle Schneider, Antony Froggatt, Komei Hosokawa, Steve Thomas, Yukio Yamaguchi, and Julie Hazemann
Posted on:
9/20/2013
Two years after the Fukushima disaster started unfolding on 11 March 2011, its impact on the global nuclear industry has become increasingly visible. Global electricity generation from nuclear plants dropped by a historic 7 percent in 2012, adding to the record drop of 4 percent in 2011. This World…
Valsecchi C., ten Brink P., Bassi S., Withana S., Lewis M., Best A., Oosterhuis F., Dias Soares C., Rogers-Gante r H., Kaphengst T.
Posted on:
9/17/2013
This study is a contribution to the European Commission’s ongoing efforts to investigate and reform environmentally harmful subsidies (EHS). The report focused on three methodologies proposed by the OECD for the identification of EHS, the analysis of their impacts and the implications of their…
Withana, S., ten Brink, P., Franckx, L., Hirschnitz-Garbers, M., Mayeres, I., Oosterhuis, F., and Porsch, L.
Posted on:
9/17/2013
This study (main report - data annexes) led by IEEP and carried out in collaboration with IVM, Ecologic Institute and VITO aims to support the European Commission in implementing the call in the Resource Efficiency Roadmap to phase out EHS by 2020. The study identifies a number of existing EHS in…
Vanya Vulperhorst, Andrzej Bialas, Sarah Todd and Maria José Cornax
Posted on:
9/12/2013
The fishing industry in the European Union (EU) receives a significant amount of government subsidies, which have promoted the overcapacity of European fishing fleets, resulting in overfishing, and rendering fisheries in many European countries unprofitable and a poor investment for taxpayers. In 13…
Useful overview of ways the existing United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) could be leveraged to expand transparency and reform of fossil fuel subsidies. Because there are a number of potential venues already extant under the UNFCCC that could be used, the chance to…
Special legislative provisions have allowed a select group of industries to operate as tax-favored publicly-traded partnerships (PTPs) more than 25 years after Congress stripped eligibility for most sectors of the economy. These firms, organized as Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs), are heavily…