This publication provides preliminary, quantitative estimates of direct budgetary support and tax expenditures supporting the production or consumption of fossil fuels in selected OECD member countries. The information has been compiled as part of the OECD’s programme of work to develop a better understanding of environmentally harmful subsidies (EHS). It has been undertaken as an exercise in transparency, and to inform the international dialogue on fossil-fuel subsidy reform. It is also intended to inform the ongoing efforts of G20 nations to reform fossil-fuel subsidies.

For each of the 24 OECD countries covered, the Inventory provides a succinct summary of its energy economy, and of the budgetary and tax-related measures provided at the central-government level (and, in the case of federal countries, for selected sub-national units of government) relating to fossil-fuel production or consumption.

Many measures listed in this inventory are relative preferences within a particular country’s tax system rather than absolute support that can be readily compared across countries, and for that reason no national totals are provided.