160 Biodiversity-Damaging Subsidies

(WSL, August 24, 2020)

In a recent study by the WSL and the Biodiversity Forum of the Swiss Academy of Sciences, a team of researchers identified and quantified over 160 biodiversity-damaging subsidies, assessed the degree of damage they cause, and estimated how easy it would be to change them in each case. According to the study, the subsidies, which mainly relate to transport, agriculture, energy production and settlement development policy, are not only ecologically problematic, but also economically inefficient, as they can cause initial damage, which then often requires further public funding to remedy – as well as further funding for biodiversity support in many instances. In order to slow the decline in biodiversity, as well as comply with the Swiss Biodiversity Strategy, the researchers therefore contended that the government has to reconfigure or abolish harmful subsidies, and drew up concrete recommendations.