This article was originally published in Canada’s National Observer and is reprinted below with permission.
The clock is ticking on two of the federal government’s promises to make tangible progress to stop subsidizing and funding fossil fuels by the end of 2022. But the government continues to provide huge support to the industry, and while lower than the previous year, it is still over CAD 8.6 billion.
So what’s the holdup? It largely comes down to one tricky word: inefficient.
In 2009, Canada promised to end so-called “inefficient” fossil fuel subsidies, stating last year it would do so by 2023.
And yet, with six months before 2023 hits, Canada still hasn’t clarified what “inefficient” — a term first introduced in the G20 commitment in 2009 — actually means. Canada also pledged to end public finance for fossil fuels, including ending all new support for unabated…
