The European Union failed to meet its target of devoting at least 20% of its budget to climate action for the 2014-2020 period, contrary to what the European Commission had indicated, according to a report published by the European Court of Auditors (ECA) on Monday 30 May.
On 8 June 2021, the European Commission announced that €216 billion, or 20.1% of the expenditure in its 2014-2020 budget, had been used to combat climate change.
However, the auditors found that the expenditure reported was not always related to climate action.
In their view, the European Commission has overestimated the climate contribution of key parts of agricultural funding, such as cross-compliance, areas under natural constraints, and organic farming, as well as the climate contribution of funds allocated to key infrastructure and cohesion subsectors such as rail transport, electricity, and biomass.
The Court of Auditors also considers that the European Commission has made significant approximations and has only monitored the potential positive impact on the climate without assessing the final contribution to the EU’s climate objectives.
These flaws in the European Commission’s assessment led to an overestimation of climate-related spending of at least €72 billion for the 2014-2020 budget, of which more than 80% (nearly €60 billion) came from agricultural funding, the report concludes.
The auditors consider that the share of climate-related expenditure in the 2014-2020 budget is therefore more likely to be around 13% (around €144 billion).
They also warn that there is a risk that planned or committed amounts will not be spent, which could further inflate reported climate expenditure.
In addition, the auditors are concerned that there are still reliability problems in the European Commission’s reporting for the 2021-2027 budget, which sets the climate spending target at 30%.
While the Next Generation EU Recovery Plan incorporates a do no significant harm principle, the ECA has found that Next Generation EU creates additional challenges due to the unclear links between payments and climate objectives.
In terms of recommendations, the Court of Auditors advises the European Commission to obtain scientific evidence to justify the climate relevance of agricultural funding.
It also recommends identifying EU spending with a potentially negative impact on the climate, publishing guidelines for reporting climate-related spending to ensure consistency, and taking stock of unused amounts.
See the report: https://aeur.eu/f/1v2 (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)