The final total of the combined financial contributions made by the European Union and its member states in 2016 to help developing countries cope with the effects of climate change was finally announced by the Council of the EU on Tuesday 17 October, at the same time as the pre-COP 23 ministerial meeting (17-18 October) was taking place in Nadi, Fiji. That sum was €20.2 billion.
The EU will travel to COP 23 (Bonn, 16-17 November) in a fine state of mind, this figure being a significant increase on the previous year in the support for the mitigation and adaptation efforts of developing countries, the Council states. In 2015, the EU contribution was €17.6 billion (see EUROPE 11654).
The €20.2 billion total came from public funds from the budgets of the member states and public development institutions, to which was added €2.7 billion from the EU budget and the European development fund and €1.9 billion from the European Investment Bank.
The total figure can be made public in part as a result of the report that member states are required to make under the terms of Regulation 525/2013 on a mechanism for monitoring and reporting greenhouse gas emissions and for reporting other information at national and Union level relevant to climate change.
It bears witness to the determination of the EU to work to scale up the public and private funding – including innovative financing – mobilised to ensure it pays its share of the annual $100 billion promised collectively by the industrialised countries to developing nations by 2020 and until 2025, as EU finance ministers confirmed on 10 October of this year (see EUROPE 11882).
The conclusions adopted by the Ecofin Council gave no figures. These conclusions and the consolidated figure supplement the EU’s negotiating mandate for COP 23, adopted by the Environment Council on 13 October (see EUROPE 11883).
Under the terms of the Paris climate agreement, the parties to the United Nations framework convention on climate change (UNFCCC) will, before 2025, have to agree a new collective objective for financing climate action beyond 2025. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)