World leaders meeting at the G8 summit in Northern Ireland in mid-June have been put under pressure to keep their commitment to phase out subsidies for fossil fuels and switch to renewable energy.

World leaders meeting at the G8 summit in Northern Ireland in mid-June have been put under pressure to keep their commitment to phase out subsidies for fossil fuels and switch to renewable energy.

The European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) and the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) have called on G8 countries to make good on previous commitments to tackle climate change, while Greenpeace and other environmental organizations have expressed concern that such issues have been pushed out of the G8 agenda for 2013.

According to the Earth Policy Institute and the International Energy Agency, the level of subsidies to fossil fuels has gone up by nearly 30 per cent to $620 billion since 2010 and today fossil fuels receive six times more subsidies than renewable energy.

In May scientists from the Mauna Loa Observatory reported that global carbon dioxide levels have reached a record high of 400 ppm.

"While world leaders pay lip service to combating climate change, what they are actually doing is subsidizing CO2 emissions to the tune of $110/tonne. Fossil fuel energy subsidy reform could take us a long way towards protecting the climate," said Steve Sawyer, Secretary General of GWEC.

The G8 summit this year is focused on improving transparency – particularly in the mining and oil extraction sectors – and ensuring tax compliance.

In previous years the G8 summit has put the environment on the agenda, with agreements in 2008 and 2009 to limiting global warming to 2°C and halving emissions by 2050.