On Tuesday 4 October, the Council of the European Union adopted conclusions on climate finance ahead of the 27th United Nations Climate Change conference (COP27) in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, held from 6 to 18 November.
In particular, the conclusions reaffirm the commitment of the EU and its Member States to the collective target agreed by developed countries to mobilise $100 billion per year until 2025 to finance climate action.
In light of the backlog (see EUROPE 12793/3), the EU Council “expects this target to be met in 2023” and is calling on other donors to “step up their efforts”.
The conclusions also express the concerns of Member States over “the scale of private finance that continues to support activities not aligned with the Paris Agreement, particularly in the fossil fuel sector, and the damaging incentives that still remain in place”.
The Eu Council is also asking the European Commission to provide an overview of international climate finance flows from the EU, including the European Investment Bank (EIB), and its Member States, for the year 2021.
Loss and damage
Regarding the somewhat thorny issue of loss and damages arising from the adverse effects of climate change, the text stresses the need for “enhanced global action, support and coordination”.
Speaking on the subject on Monday 3 October at the ‘pre-COP’ meeting in Kinshasa, the Executive Vice-President of the Commission in charge of the ‘Green Deal’ acknowledged that due attention regarding the subject “was delayed for so long”.
Like the EU, he welcomed the launch of the Glasgow Dialogue – looking at how to finance activities to prevent, minimise and remedy loss and damage “should now lead to more concrete results in terms of finance and support to those who need it most as quickly as possible”.
In addition to these conclusions on climate finance, the EU Council is also preparing more general conclusions pertaining to COP27, as is the European Parliament. EUROPE will continue to follow this story.
See the Council conclusions on climate finance: https://aeur.eu/f/3ed (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)