U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz speaks during a news conference in Beijing in March. (Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

BEIJING — Energy ministers from G20 world’s major economies failed to reach agreement on  deadline to phase out hundreds of billions of dollars in government subsidies for fossil fuels — subsidies that campaigners say are helping to propel the globe toward potentially devastating climate change. Ministers failed to reach agreement on deadline, despite Chinese and American efforts and joint appeal from 200 NGO’s. G7 group of 7 richest economies last month urged all countries to eliminate “inefficient” fossil fuel subsidies by 2025.

A 2015 report by the British think tank Overseas Development Institute, along with Oil Change International, calculated that the G-20 major economies subsidize fossil fuel production to the tune of $444 billion a year, marrying “bad economics with potentially disastrous effects on the environment.”

>more> Washington Post