In a new publication dated 24 March, the Bruegel think tank argued that Europe must, in parallel with developing its defence capabilities, step up action on climate change “in the face of the Trump administration’s withdrawal of the United States’s commitment to climate action and apparent withdrawal of its commitment to defending the free world”.
According to the authors of the study, EU countries should therefore increase funding for the fight against climate change, in particular by supporting developing countries.
Taking the view that the results of COP29 in Baku were not sufficiently ambitious (see EUROPE 13531/13), the authors invite the EU to join a coalition of willing rich countries to enable a subsidy of around $124 billion per year between 2025 and 2035.
“This is a large number in absolute terms, but small (about 0.3%) in relation to the GDP of the climate finance coalition”, say the authors, who believe that climate action in developing countries is also “a matter of survival for the EU and its allies”.
In addition, they consider that the net economic return on this investment for the coalition (in terms of avoided loss and damage) would be at least 9% and “could exceed several hundred percent, based on current estimates of the economic costs of carbon emissions”.
To see the publication: https://aeur.eu/f/g5v (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)