Financing the Sustainable Development Goals through fossil-fuel subsidy reform: opportunities in Southeast Asia, India and China

This paper outlines the opportunities that fossil-fuel subsidy reform offers for funding future Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within the context of Asia. The paper looks at fossil-fuel subsidies and their reform in relation to sustainable development in general, and specifically with regard to proposed SDGs. Fossil-fuel subsidy reform is currently included as a “Means of Implementation” within the SDGs, and this paper highlights the opportunities available from fossil-fuel subsidy reform for financing the SDGs through direct savings achieved from reform, increased fiscal space, broader shifts in social welfare systems, and potential revenues from the eventual taxation of fossil fuels. The paper also explains how the presence of fossil-fuel subsidies affects the SDGs in other ways.