EU pledges 4 billion euros extra in local weather funds for poorer nations
The European Union on Wednesday pledged to extend monetary assist to assist poorer nations battle local weather change and adapt to its impacts, and known as on the United States additionally to step up.
“We will now propose an additional 4 billion euros for climate finance until 2027,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen mentioned in a coverage speech on the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
“But we expect the United States and our partners to step up too. This is vital, because closing the climate finance gap together, the US and the European Union, would be such a strong signal for global climate leadership.”
The further 4 billion euros is a complete quantity for the interval 2021-2027. It will come from the EU price range, a Commission spokesperson mentioned.
The EU already contributes an annual $25 billion in local weather funding, von der Leyen mentioned.
Climate finance is anticipated to be a decisive difficulty on the United Nations’ COP26 summit in November, the place world leaders will try to agree commitments to chop emissions quicker to attempt to stave off catastrophic local weather change.
With seven weeks to go till COP26, cash stays a sore level.
Rich nations have thus far did not ship their 2009 pledge to offer $100 billion per 12 months in local weather finance to poorer nations by 2020.
Without assist from rich nations, creating nations say they can’t make the large investments required to wean their economies off fossil fuels and onto clear vitality, or bolster their infrastructure to deal with local weather impacts.
Government officers in India – the world’s fourth-biggest emitter of the greenhouse gases that heat the planet after China, the United States and the EU – have mentioned any additional dedication to scale back their nation’s carbon footprint will rely on funding from wealthy nations. learn extra
The United States pledged in April to double its public local weather finance for creating nations by 2024 in comparison with common ranges throughout the Obama administration, although specialists and campaigners are urging the world’s greatest economic system to do extra. learn extra
Wealthy nations collectively contributed almost $80 billion in 2018. The European Union and its member nations are, taken collectively, the most important suppliers of such funding, in keeping with the OECD.
Von der Leyen mentioned the EU would additionally double its worldwide funding to guard biodiversity, with out specifying an quantity.
