They may also be used, as they are in the case of renewable energy technologies, to level the playing field vis-a-vis competing conventional goods, which are not taxed for their full environmental damage, and which on the contrary are often subsidised. As noted above, they may help firms in a new and dynamic sector to overcome significant market failures and reach a point of global competitiveness. They may be used to prolong the life of firms that are not and never will be competitive, providing unwelcome competition to others struggling to enter the market. They may be offered with local-content requirements attached as a condition, which forecloses foreign opportunities for trade and investment with the implementing country.7 For countries with poorly resourced treasuries foreign subsidies may simply be unmatchable, even if they are ‘properly’ employed in every sense.