Viet Nam joined the international Fossil-Fuel Subsidy Reform Communiqué. Viet Nam joins over 40 countries and organisations representing thousands of businesses behind the international Fossil-Fuel Subsidy Reform Communiqué that calls for increased transparency, ambition and targeted support towards reform of subsidies towards fossil fuels. Vietnam has been reforming fossil fuel subsidies that totalled 3.4% of GDP in 2011 or almost 7% of the state budget in 2010. Viet Nam is also undergoing a voluntary peer review of fossil fuel subsidies and is hosting APEC Leaders in November 2017.

The reform of fossil fuel subsidies has been included as part of APEC commitments since 2010, most recently from the Peru Leaders’ summit in 2016 which reaffirms APEC’s commitment to ‘rationalizing and phasing out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies which encourage wasteful consumption, while still providing essential energy services…’ as well as expressing ‘appreciation to the economies that have volunteered to undergo a voluntary inefficient fossil fuel subsidy peer review in APEC and the G20’ with further encouragement to ‘more economies to participate in peer review.’ A Guide-book for policy makers on self and peer review of fossil fuel subsidies with examples from Friends countries such as Sweden, Finland and New Zealand is now available for download here.