Cut-price fossil fuels, snakes on planes and Cancun questions

Available for over a year

As world leaders gather in Seoul to discuss how to drive forward the global economy (and argue over the value of each others currencies), one topic likely to generate a lot of heat will be the subject of fossil fuel subsidies. The latest World Energy Outlook report - produced by the International Energy Agency - has just been published, and shows governments spent over $300bn last year making fossil fuels cheaper to use. These subsidies make it less-expensive to drive cars, heat homes, cook food - tasks that some regard as basic human rights, and others stress are important factors in helping a country develop economically. Critics suggest the practise leads to wasteful use of energy, and the IEA has estimated that scrapping the subsidies by 2020 would cut global energy demand by 5%. In this week's One Planet we speak to the IEA's chief economist Fatih Birol, plus we hear from one of Europe's largest energy suppliers - Eon. And we visit two countries with very large fossil fuel subsidies, but with very different incomes per head - Egypt and the UAE. Also in the show we've got a round up of environmental news from Malaysia, and we ask if there's any point to the forthcoming UN climate change summit in Cancun. As ever, tune in, have a listen and let us know what you think. Email the team at [email protected], or join us on our Facebook page.