Researchers criticize consumer fossil-fuel subsidies as governments respond to rising prices
In an editorial published in Science, energy policy experts Paasha Mahdavi and Michael Ross argue that governments should not create consumer fossil-fuel subsidies in response to rising energy prices. The researchers describe that approach as the “worst energy policy in the world,” according to Mongabay’s account of the editorial.
Paasha Mahdavi and Michael Ross argue in a Science editorial that governments creating consumer fossil-fuel subsidies in response to rising energy prices are pursuing what they call the “worst energy policy in the world.”
Mahdavi is an associate professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Ross is a professor. Both are described as U.S.-based energy policy experts.
THE QUESTIONS THIS EVENT LEAVES BEHIND
What alternatives to consumer fossil-fuel subsidies do the researchers support?
Which governments have created or considered these subsidies in response to rising energy prices?
Who benefits most from consumer fossil-fuel subsidies, and who bears their costs?
What conditions would make subsidies more or less effective as a response to higher energy prices?
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GLOBAL CURIOSITY MAP · SEPTEMBER 2026