Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized TECHNICAL REPORT Public Disclosure Authorized ENERGY SUBSIDY REFORM IN ACTION POLITICAL ECONOMY ANALYSIS AND COMMUNICATIONS FOR ENERGY SUBSIDY REFORMS Approaches and Insights from Recent Technical Assistance TECHNICAL REPORT ENERGY SUBSIDY REFORM IN ACTION POLITICAL ECONOMY ANALYSIS AND COMMUNICATIONS FOR ENERGY SUBSIDY REFORMS Approaches and Insights from Recent Technical Assistance Tom Moerenhout, Defne Gencer, Beatriz Arizu, Min A Lee, and Hannah Braun ABOUT ESMAP The Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) is a partnership between the World Bank and over 20 partners to help low- and middle-income countries reduce poverty and boost growth through sustainable energy solutions. ESMAP’s analytical and advisory services are fully integrated within the World Bank’s country financing and policy dialogue in the energy sector. Through the WB, ESMAP works to accelerate the energy transition required to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7), which ensures access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all. It helps shape WB strategies and programs to achieve the WB Climate Change Action Plan targets. Learn more at: https://www. esmap.org. © 2024 March | International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433 Telephone: 202-473-1000; Internet: www.worldbank.org Some rights reserved. ABOUT THIS SERIES This report is part of the “Energy Subsidy Reform in Action” series produced by the ESMAP Energy Subsidy Reform Facility, with the objective of drawing insights from recent experiences and emerging approaches related to reform of energy subsidies in developing countries. The series includes issuespecific reports from various relevant domains such as energy sector reform, macroeconomic and fiscal policy, carbon pricing, poverty and distributional analysis, social protection, political economy, and communications. Rights and Permissions The material in this work is subject to copyright. Because the World Bank encourages dissemination of its knowledge, this work may be reproduced, in whole or in part, for noncommercial purposes if full attribution to this work is given. Any queries on rights and licenses, including subsidiary rights, should be addressed to World Bank Publications, World Bank Group, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA; fax: +1-202-522-2625; e-mail: pubrights@worldbank.org. Furthermore, the ESMAP Program Manager would appreciate receiving a copy of the publication that uses this publication for its source sent in care of the address above, or to esmap@worldbank.org. This work is available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO license (CC BY 3.0 IGO) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo. Under the Creative Commons Attribution license, you are free to copy, distribute, transmit, and adapt this work, including for commercial purposes, under the following conditions: Attribution—Moerenhout, Tom, Defne Gencer, Beatriz Arizu, Min A Lee, and Hannah Braun. 2024. Political economy analysis and communications for energy subsidy reforms: Approaches and Insights from Recent Technical Assistance. Energy Subsidy Reform in Action Series. ESMAP Technical Report. Washington, DC: World Bank. License: Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0 IGO. Third-Party Content—The World Bank does not necessarily own each component of the content contained within the work and does not warrant that the use of any third-party owned individual component or part contained in the work will not infringe on the rights of those third parties. If you wish to reuse a component of the work, it is your responsibility to determine whether permission is needed for that reuse and to obtain permission from the copyright owner. Examples of components can include, but are not limited to, tables, figures, or images. Production Credits Designer | Laura C. Johnson Contents Abbreviations v Acknowledgments vi Executive Summary vii 1 The Why: Background xx 2 The What: Stocktaking of PEA and Communications Activities 6 3 The How: Activity Design and Implementation Approaches 10 Political economy analysis support 11 Communications support 12 4 The What: Key Findings and Insights from Activities 14 5 What Worked Well? Noteworthy Approaches 18 6 What Next: Strengthening PEA and Communications Support 22 Appendixes Appendix A.