The second report in GSI's series measuring irrigation subsidies provides the starting point for a debate on the use of irrigation subsidies in India. Subsidies to irrigated agriculture in major irrigation projects in just the four south Indian states (Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala) were conservatively estimated at US$575 million per year from 2004 to 2008.

This document is addressed primarily to those individuals who are interested in preparing estimates of subsidies to particular products or sectors

The production of fossil fuels

In September 2009, at the Pittsburgh Summit, G-20 leaders recognized that "inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies encourage wasteful consumption, distort markets, impede investment in clean energy sources and undermine efforts to deal with climate change", and committed to phase out and rationalize inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies that lead to wasteful consumption.

Untold Billions: Fossil-fuel subsidies, their impacts and the path to reform is a series of papers examining the extent of fossil-fuel subsidies, their impact on climate change and sustainable development more broadly, and the challenges to their reform.

The Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI) recommends a three-step process to define, measure and evaluate subsidies; this process starts with a broad, crosssectoral application that narrows throughout the process. The benefits of this approach are that it is flexible enough to cover different national priorities and

Understanding the complex trade-offs between the economic, environmental and social impacts of subsidy reform is a challenge for any government considering phasing out fossil-fuel subsidies. Jennifer Ellis provides a detailed literature review, focusing on the six modelling studies in the last 20 years that have attempted to analyze global impacts for all fuels.

This GSI Policy Brief presents an overview of the status of the six blocks needed to undertake the reform of fossil-fuel subsidies at a global scale, with reference to the GSI