At the One Planet summit, the Paris Agreement’s anniversary summit convened by French President Emmanuel Macron, the World Bank and the UN, commitments flowed in on Tuesday 12 December, stepping up a gear on climate finance with a view to implementing the Paris Agreement and responding to the US administration’s withdrawal.
The goal of the organisers was to mobilise all public and private players to raise climate financing – not just the €100 billion per year between now and 2020 promised by the industrial nations to support the mitigation and adaptation efforts of developing countries but also to help businesses obtain finance so they can redirect their activities towards a low-carbon economy.
European Climate Action and Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete said that the European Union was not standing idly by. He pointed out that, with its member states, the EU is the world’s largest donor, contributing €20.2 billion in 2016 (see EUROPE 11897 and 11885), and set out 10 initiatives for a modern and clean economy.
It is the European Commission’s intention to bring forward a comprehensive action plan in March 2018 which will contain initiatives to boost the sustainable financial products market (see other article).
Commissioner Cañete presented the EU external investment plan – one of the 10 initiatives, which aims to leverage at least €44 billion of sustainable investment in Africa and in the countries of the EU Neighbourhood region by 2020 – and announced that €9 billion of smart climate investment in three areas: - sustainable cities; - sustainable energy and connectivity; - sustainable agriculture, - rural entrepreneurs and agri-business.
“The EU’s external investment plan which focuses on sustainable development and low-carbon, climate-resilient transition, will increase investment which is sadly lacking in Africa and the neighbourhood”, the Commissioner said.
The first investment agreements and implementations of projects are expected by the end of the first half of 2018.
The NGOs represented in Paris welcomed the announcement by Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic of a Platform for Coal Regions in Transition – a component of the “Clean Energy for All Europeans” package to help coal-dependent member states and regions to modernise their economies and make preparation for the structural and technological transition required (see EUROPE 11923).
WWF sees this as a way of helping member states and regions to turn away from coal and towards renewable energy. “This is great news for regions struggling to imagine a future beyond coal. The Platform for Coal Regions in Transition must help Europe move collectively and fairly away from coal mining and coal power in all its forms by 2030 at the latest. However, the platform must not be an excuse to provide life-support to outdated polluting technologies, but should help communities harness the exciting opportunities of Europe’s renewable energy future”, said Imke Lübbeke, Head of Climate and Energy at WWF European Policy Office.
Joanna Flisowska, Coal Policy Coordinator at Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe added: “Now the European Commission needs to ensure that no one is left behind, starting with support for coal region workers and communities. While subsidising fossil fuels and coal in particular has to end, additional funding for the just transition is needed. By integrating the just transition funding clearly into the next long-term EU budget, the Commission has the opportunity to ensure that the clean energy and the just transition go hand-in-hand as these are the two sides of the same coin”.
The “Ten Initiatives for a Modern and Clean Economy” can be viewed online at: http://bit.ly/2AMzLoH (English) and http://bit.ly/2Avk2xt (French). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)