SDG #12 is to “Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns”
Within SDG #12 are 11 targets, of which we here focus on Target 12.c:
Rationalize inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption by removing market distortions, in accordance with national circumstances, including by restructuring taxation and phasing out those harmful subsidies, where they exist, to reflect their environmental impacts, taking fully into account the specific needs and conditions of developing countries and minimizing the possible adverse impacts on their development in a manner that protects the poor and the affected communities
Target 12.c has one indicator:
Indicator 12.c.1: Amount of fossil-fuel subsidies (production and consumption) per unit of GDP
The countries with the biggest share of GDP going toward fossil fuel subsidies as of 2021 were:
Venezuela
Algeria
Libya
Iran
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan
Each of these countries had greater than 10% of their GDP spent on such subsidies, the highest in Venezuela with 21%. The proportion of gross world product spent on fossil fuel subsidies has risen and fallen since 2015. Its highest level was in 2021, totalling 0.85%, from a 2015 baseline of 0.71%
Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Turkmenistan each spent greater than $1000 of subsidies per capita. The highest was Qatar with $2535, an almost doubling since 2015. Worldwide, there was a similar trajectory in the SDG period as the spending per unit of GDP, with $92 spent per global citizen, up from $71 in 2015.
But in total, the biggest spender was Iran, with $59 billion spent on fossil fuel subsidies, out of a global total of $731 billion for 2021.
