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Government subsidies for business practices and processes should be approached with caution, even when they seem to be environmentally friendly, writes a group of scientists and economists in this week's Policy Forum in the journal Science.

They argue that subsidies can alter market pressures, leading to unintended consequences that not only perpetuate harmful subsidies over time but also diminish the overall effectiveness of those intended to promote environmental sustainability.

Therefore, when they must be used, subsidies should have clear end-dates, advise the authors.

"We've got this odd juxtaposition of trying to get rid of subsidies in some sectors, and then ramping up subsidies in others," says lead author Kathleen Segerson, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Economics at the University of Connecticut. "The question that interested me was: is this a good thing or a bad thing?"

Segerson and her co-authors are a group of internationally leading economists, ecologists, geographers, psychologists, and other scientists who convened for the 2022 Askö Workshop sponsored by the Beijer Institute for Ecological Economics in Stockholm, Sweden.

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