Over the last three months of 2009, calls for the phasing out of fossil-fuel subsidies by the G-20 and others have garnered widespread support. Now policy-makers face the challenge: how should a political call for reform be transformed into coherent action?

This policy brief outlines the building blocks needed to implement a multilateral program to reform fossil-fuel subsidies on a global scale.

It draws on the GSI's research in this area, now one year into a three-year program of work. The first set of outputs are soon to be collected in one volume under the title, Untold Billions: Fossil-fuel subsidies, their impacts and the path to reform. Support for Gaining traction: the importance of transparency in accelerating the reform of fossil-fuel subsidies was also generously provided by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).

The GSI's research on fossil-fuel subsidies can be accessed here.