Trade Minister David Parker has told a World Trade Organisation meeting that hundreds of billions of dollars in fossil fuel subsidies should be redirected into renewable energy.
His comments, made today at the WTO ministerial conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina, echo previous statements made by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation summit in Vietnam last month.
"Each year, Governments are spending at least US$425 billion subsidising the production and sale of coal, oil, gas and other greenhouse gas emitting fuels," Parker told a WTO event on fossil fuel subsidy reform.
"We want to change this. This money could be better used to pursue other development goals or invest in the renewable energy sector."
Parker, who co-hosted the event with Finland, delivered a ministerial statement endorsed by 12 other WTO members to confirm the benefits of subsidy reform.