Executive Summary -- EIA Energy Subsidy Estimates: A Review of Assumptions and Omissions

Note:  This link is for the Executive Summary only.  You can access the full report here.

The Review provides the most detailed look to date at gaps in federal tracking of energy subsidies.  In addition to evaluating the research approach used by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), the Review assesses how key assumptions and omissions in EIA's work resulted in substantial undercounting of federal energy subsidies and an inaccurate portrayal of subsidy distribution across fuels.  EIA estimates are also placed in the context of other assessments of domestic energy subsidies conducted over the past thirty years.

With energy subsidy reform increasingly viewed as a central tenet of any climate change mitigation strategy, ensuring accurate information on the size and distribution of energy subsidies is critical. 

Key factors affecting EIA's results included a restrictive research mandate; inappropriately narrow inclusion rules on subsidy policies, sometimes inconsistently applied; and a variety of valuation issues (see table below).  In combination, these problems resulted in estimates that have more to do with the research method than with the actual policies in place. 

As the EIA is likely to continue in its role of tabulating federal energy subsidies, Earth Track hopes that this Review will help ensure that future reports done by the Administration address subsidy policies more systematically and comprehensively.