Brussels, 10/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 10 November, European Finance Ministers confirmed their commitment to increase climate financing to enable the EU to contribute fairly to the $100 billion promised by 2020 by the rich countries in support of the adaptation and mitigation efforts by developing countries.
The unanimous conclusions they adopted explained that private financing should be used to help complete but not substitute for public funding. Unsurprisingly, no mention is made of any figures for the future. They emphasise that the EU and member states provided $14.5 billion in climate financing in 2014, which is an increase on figures for 2013 (9.5 billion).
The 2015 amount is not expected to be significantly above the $13.6 billion, the indicative figure originally mentioned but which was subsequently erased (see EUROPE 11426). Pierre Gramegna, the acting president of the Ecofin Council, explained: “Ecofin's mandate for the COP21 is ambitious and complements that already decided by the environment ministers. The EU is prepared to make a significant contribution to what needs are identified in the fight against climate change”. The NGOs, however, have a completely different opinion on the matter.
The Council is highlighting the importance of fair burden sharing between the developed countries and acknowledges that climate financing will be a “significant part” of the global agreement to be concluded in Paris, in an effort to attain the target of an average global temperature rise that is below 2°C. It confirmed the EU's commitment and that of its member states to provide transparent reporting on climate financing and its support for drawing up a solid Measurement and Reporting Verification (MRV) framework to assess climate-financing flows.
Jo Leinen MEP (S&D, Germany) is hoping for “A credible and ambitious climate finance package ahead of Paris” but criticised the Council and pointed out that it is “Dangerous to remain vague on how funds will be aggregated in the upcoming years”. The NGOs CANEurope, Oxfam and the WWF are also disappointed because they think that this Ecofin Council position could possibly weaken the EU alliance with the countries most vulnerable to climate change. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)