Brussels, 17/03/2009 (Agence Europe) - It is now well known that the European Council of 19 and 20 March will not be taking a stance on practical ways to finance the additional aid required to support developing countries in their attempts to address and adjust to climate change. The draft conclusions submitted for the approval of heads of state and government will simply acknowledge the need for substantial funding sources, both public and private, in order to finance measures to attenuate global warming and adjust to climate change at a global level. They are not, however, expected to rule out any solution and should stress the importance of setting up a global carbon market. The text will ensure the EU's readiness to shoulder its fair share of the financing for such action in developing countries, but the 27 EU heads of state and government will put off till later the task of exploring the detailed arrangements to be decided between them for generating resources required for this financing.
EU foreign ministers - the last to have defined their contribution to the spring summit on Monday 16 March - invite the European Council to take the development chapter duly into account when developing a comprehensive post-2012 agreement on climate change in Copenhagen in December (COP 15, 7-18 December). Their guidelines for the EU's position in UN negotiations call for adequate support to be given by industrialised countries to developing countries as they seek to address and adjust to climate change. The General Affairs/External Relations Council (GAERC), however, has not been too specific about the arrangements and the volume of financing required, just like the Environment Council of 2 March (EUROPE 9853) and the Ecofin Council of 10 March (EUROPE 9858) before it. On this crucial issue, GAERC would only affirm that, “in view of supporting appropriate national strategies and actions for adaptation or reduction in developing countries and helping them enhance their technological capacity, it is necessary to mobilise additional resources from a wide range of financial sources (public and private, national and international, possibly including forms of innovative financing). In this context, the Council highlights the pertinence of the Committee's experience in development of the OECD towards notification of public development aid”. Not a word then, on the two innovative funding options proposed by the European Commission in its communication of 28 January (“Towards a global agreement on climate change in Copenhagen”: one based on the market, the other on the contribution of rich countries to a fund, based on the level of greenhouse gas emissions.
This is because several member states (especially Germany, Italy and Lithuania) believe it premature at this stage for the European Council to enter into this level of detail. Germany stated this very clearly by submitting a declaration to the Council's minutes that explained that in its opinion, “it is necessary to initially examine how innovative forms of financing are calculated in the funding of adaptation and reduction strategies for developing countries. It is only at the end of this examination that a decision can be taken on the use of innovative forms of financing”.
The European Commission pointed out that, in the communication of 28 January, the EU intends to develop an international mechanism for fund efforts to combat climate change with the aim of raising substantial funds for the most vulnerable and poorest developing countries during the period from 2010 to full implementation of the new financial architecture which is likely to be determined in Copenhagen.
In its conclusions, the GAERC states that climate change is beginning to seriously threaten the realisation of the Millennium development goals and could also have a significant effect on issues of security, insofar as it was severely damaging efforts being made to achieve sustainable development and reduce poverty. Noting that it was the developing countries which were, first and foremost, responsible for their own development, the Council states that mitigation and adaptation efforts should be built into national development strategies.
Aware that a wide range of financial sources will be necessary to provide adequate, predictable and sustainable funding flows and to mobilise private investment, the GAERC states that current financial architecture must be reviewed for face this challenge.
Given the specific impact of climate change on the poorest and most vulnerable developing countries, it said that the EU was prepared to give help developing countries, in particular the least advanced, small developing islands states and African countries at risk of flood, drought and desertification, adapt. These countries will also be able to count on increased cooperation in research, development, deployment and spread of clean technologies.
With regard to climate change mitigation, the Council believes that developing countries as a whole - principally the emerging countries - should limit dramatically and quantifiably the rate of increase in their emissions by something of the order of 15 to 30% by 2020, compared with the current situation, and that developing countries should be encouraged to adopt low CO2 emission development strategies. (A.N./transl.jl.rh.rt)