Subsidies for fossil fuels obscure the true cost of these polluting industries and enable them to continue exploring for, extracting and burning coal, oil and gas. As the world works towards reducing global greenhouse emissions to mitigate climate change, international pressure is mounting for countries to stop subsidising fossil fuels so that competitively-priced and clean...

This study demonstrates how the proposed design of the Australian government’s Safeguard Mechanism (SGM) includes loopholes that will enable and effectively subsidise highly polluting new fossil fuel projects, placing Australia’s emission reduction targets at risk, while transferring billions of dollars of additional costs to other Australian businesses, consumers, and taxpayers.