The OECD monitors government support to agriculture across 54 countries, including all OECD and EU economies, plus 11 key emerging economies (Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Philippines, Russian Federation, South Africa, Ukraine and Viet Nam). Measures of support include both budgetary transfers and the support effect of market access barriers. Data are updated annually and go back to 1986.

The annual Agricultural Policy Monitoring and Evaluation report explains the latest data and policy trends, and includes feature chapters, such as on how current support affects food systems goals or relates to climate change mitigation.

Over 2019-21, an average of USD 817 billion of support was provided to agriculture annually, a 13% increase over the USD 720 billion reported for 2018-20. While support has increased overall, the share of investments in general services needed for a sustainable, resilient and productive sector, such as innovation, biosecurity or infrastructure, has actually declined -- to 13% of overall support in 2019-21, down from 16% two decades earlier.

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The OECD Fisheries Support Estimate (FSE) measures fisheries support in a consistent and transparent way across 40 OECD Members and other large fishing nations, which, together, represented 90% of global capture fisheries production by volume in the period 2018-20. Data are updated biennially and go back to 2009.

The FSE and associated modelling work enable analysis of the impacts of fisheries support policies on fish stocks and ecosystems, as well as on jobs, incomes, and value creation.

Governments support their fisheries through a wide range of policies, but much of the support goes to input subsidies (such as for fuel and vessels) that can contribute to over-fishing and illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Scope exists for reforms to better target fishers’ livelihoods without increasing the risk of overfishing. The 2022 edition of the OECD Review of Fisheries proposes a framework to identify the support measures that present risks of encouraging unsustainable fishing, depending on the context in which they are granted – and suggests better alternatives.

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The OECD identifies the nature and scale of support in industrial sectors using an innovative approach based on firm-level data to measure the support that companies receive. This information is shining a new light on the ways in which governments provide support to large industrial producers – from grants and corporate tax concessions through to below-market finance. 

Below-market finance can take the form of government loan guarantees or state banks offering loans at interest rates that are lower than firms would otherwise get on the market. It can also take the form of below-market equity returns, whereby the government shareholders of industrial companies tolerate lower returns on their investments for longer than private investors would.

Resources include an overview of work to date, plus deep dive studies have examined support received by firms in the aluminium, semiconductor and rolling stock value chains, as well as  below-market finance across 13 industrial sectors and below market energy inputs across four energy-intensive industries.

The OECD Inventory of Support Measures for Fossil Fuels measures support to fossil fuel production and consumption across 51 advanced and emerging economies. Data are updated annually and go back to 2010.

Support had overall been on a downward trend since its peak in 2013, but increased by 27% in 2021 to USD 227 billion, as energy prices rose with the rebound of the global economy. The transport sector alone saw a 31% increase in support due to the surge in fuel use from the post-COVID lifting of restrictions on mobility. Direct support for the production of fossil fuels and electricity generation rose by 23%, reflecting in part government intervention to shield households and firms from the impacts of high energy prices that followed the strong recovery in demand

Significant increases in fossil fuel subsidies can encourage wasteful consumption, while not necessarily reaching low-income households. When prices remain elevated, governments should shift to more targeted measures, including through the increased use of income support.

Given the existential threat of climate change, governments have an opportunity to accelerate investment in sustainable energy and the creation of green jobs and meet the UN Sustainable Development Goal 7 of ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.

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