UK, New Zealand, Columbia join COFFIS coalition on fossil fuel incentives phaseout
At COP29, Dutch deputy PM and climate minister Sophie Hermans announced that the UK, New Zealand, and Colombia have joined the coalition’s efforts to phase out fossil fuel incentives including subsidies.
(Baku, Azerbaijan) — At COP29, Sophie Hermans, chair of the Dutch-led Coalition on Phasing Out Of Fossil Fuel Incentives Including Subsidies (COFFIS), announced the new membership of the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Colombia to the coalition.
Hermans, who is also Deputy Prime Minister and Dutch Minister of Climate Policy and Green Growth, disclosed the new membership during the coalition’s press conference today. She also added that the International Institute for Sustainable Development has joined the coalition.
“Last year we started with 13 countries and we set the ambition to let our coalition grow. And I’m pleased to welcome new members to our coalition, the UK, New Zealand and Colombia. And we are still talking to a number of countries. This is great news. And we will continue discussions with other interested countries, as I mentioned,” she said.
COFFIS is a coalition of governments working together to remove barriers and facilitate transparency toward the phase-out of fossil fuel subsidies. The coalition was launched at COP28 with 13 member countries but with the new membership it has 16 members.
Herman noted that given the current climate crisis, the member countries need to swiftly redirect public money to work to replace production of carbon emissions, to limit global average temperatures to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels.
“We have advanced our shared mission of support, supporting a global transition away from fossil fuels. Several new countries have taken steps on making their fossil fuel subsidies transparent with an inventory. We have organised two public expert session sessions on fossil fuel subsidy phase-outs and international barriers. And we have organised two in-person meetings where we started the dialogue mission in the first place. Looking back, the key takeaway for me is how important it is to keep this topic high on the agenda in all four countries.
She further said that fossil fuel subsidies are an extremely sensitive topic because every subsidy or financial incentive is so huge that it cannot phase out fossil subsidies without a just transition.
“Looking ahead, we know there is much work to be done, and this coalition has ambitious goals for the years to come and we need to remain focused and united to mention we want to work towards using a better, more uniform way to identify fossil fuel subsidies and take first steps in developing plans to actually phase out those,” she added.
Mary Warlick, Deputy Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, said there’s no doubt that reforming fossil fuel subsidies is a socially and politically sensitive issue. She emphasised that over the last five years, only around 15% of total subsidies were targeted toward vulnerable portions of the population.
“Untargeted subsidies disproportionately benefit wealthier sectors of the population because they consume more of the subsidised fuels. Many examples are successful and unsuccessful attempts of pricing reform in the past. Different national circumstances mean that there is no single path to follow when reforming inefficient fossil fuel subsidies,” he said.
Warlick made a strong case for redirecting support to the most vulnerable populations, including those who do not have reliable access to clean cooking fuels and electricity.
As a new member country, Stuart Horne, Climate Ambassador of New Zealand, said the country has been advocating for fossil fuels to be phased out globally for decades.
“As we all know, they make overall gas-emitting fuels cheaper. They discourage investment in sustainable alternatives. Global regulatory frameworks simply need to aim to eliminate subsidies for fossil fuels and foster a competitive environment for sustainable bio-based fuels.
“For New Zealand, our engagement in this space has been for decades, and traditionally it’s been through trade initiatives. We lead the Friends and Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform Group, and we fix the initiative with WTO,” he added.
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