Brussels, 14/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - Economy and finance ministers confirmed on Friday 11 September that the EU would stand by its commitments on climate financing and would continue to play a leading role in this area.
The exchange of views at the informal meeting of the Economic and Financial Affairs (Ecofin) Council in Luxembourg allowed ministers to state clearly that the EU will abide by the pledge it made in 2009, along with all the other rich countries, to contribute to the mobilisation of $100 million per year from 2020 to support the efforts of developing countries to mitigate and adapt to climate change. In so doing, they sent out the powerful message, less than three months from the Paris climate conference (COP 21, 30 November-11 December), awaited by their environment counterparts to whom responsibility will fall, on 18 September, to agree the EU position for COP 21 (see EUROPE 11365).
Climate change will “lead to huge population movements”, warned Pierre Gramegna, president-in-office of the Ecofin Council, after the meeting, making clear the scale of what is at stake. He said, too, that agreement had been reached among ministers on the significant role that private financing should play and that the right incentives had to be put in place. The Ecofin Council will adopt its conclusions on climate financing on 10 November. This will come after the international meeting of economy and finance ministers in Lima, on the sidelines of International Monetary Fund (in October) - “an important meeting”, stated Economic and Financial Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici. “We must reassure our partners that our commitment to achieve the goal of US$100 billion per year still stands”, and for this, all the necessary data are required, he said.
Funding estimates for 2015-2017 imminent. Underlining that, hitherto, the EU “has been in the front line”, with $9.6 billion mobilised in 2012 to capitalise the Green Climate Fund and that it “should be proud, even though more can always be done”, the commissioner gave assurances that the EU intends to remain at the forefront. It was to this end that ministers recalled the request made by the Commission that the member states submit to it, by mid-September, their climate financing estimates for the period from 2015 to 2017 to make sure that the $100 billion target is reached in 2020 and that there is as much transparency as possible on contributions.
Keenly aware that funding will be crucial in the fight against global warming, the commissioner, whose country will chair the COP, said: “We must deliver on the expectations of our fellow citizens of all the peoples of the world. COP 21 in Paris is a date with history, which we cannot allow ourselves to miss. Both economy ministers and finance ministers have a role to play there, because the success, great or small, or failure of the Paris conference will be determined by the issue of climate financing. We cannot fail. And this, in short, means that neither can we allow ourselves to deal with the issue of climate financing other than properly” (our translation).
It is for that reason, in his view, that progress must also be made on commitments for the post-2020 period. He stressed the need for a new framework that reflects the change in the global economy, the need for everyone to contribute to financing, first domestic and thereafter international, in line with ability, and the need for a legal and financial environment conducive to green investment and the development of a low-carbon economy. (Aminata Niang)