The European Commission’s Executive Vice-President responsible for the European Green Deal, Frans Timmermans, called for alternatives to the creation of a financial facility to address the loss and damage caused by climate change, on Wednesday 16 November, in a brief interview with journalists in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, as part of the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27).
The facility, which has been called for by the Group of 77 (G77) countries in particular, would aim to provide funding from developed countries to the those in the south to help them cope with the damage caused by climate disruption that cannot be avoided by either emission-reduction actions or adaptation to climate change. This is, according to these countries, a legitimate request, given that they are particularly affected by the impacts of climate disruption, which is largely caused by developed countries.
Mr Timmermans, who is representing the EU in the COP27 negotiations, said he shared this objective, but expressed several reservations about the G77’s proposal.
In particular, he criticised the fact that their proposal “starts from a situation 30 years ago, from 1992 and not from 2022”. This means that some countries, which have experienced “considerable growth” and “now have huge financial potential” (editor’s note: e.g. China), would not contribute to this facility.
He added: “I think it is unacceptable. Everybody should be brought into the system on the basis of where they are today”.
He went on to say that the money mobilised through the fund should be prioritised for the most vulnerable countries, rather than potentially benefiting all developing countries.
Finally, the Commission Vice-President argued for using existing instruments that can be mobilised immediately, rather than focusing on the creation of a fund that will take “years” to set up.
In order to break the deadlock in the negotiations on this issue, he proposed to set a deadline of one year to make a decision on the creation of a financial facility.
In addition, Mr Timmermans announced that the EU and four Member States (France, Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark) will provide more than €1 billion to support climate change adaptation in Africa, including €60 million for loss and damage from the EU budget (see EUROPE 13065/18). (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)