EU pledges 4 billion euros more in climate funds for poorer countries By Reuters

By Kate Abnett

STRASBOURG (Reuters) -The European Union on Wednesday pledged to extend monetary assist to assist poorer international locations battle local weather change and adapt to its impacts, and referred to as on the US additionally to step up.

“We are going to now suggest an extra 4 billion euros for local weather finance till 2027,” European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen mentioned in a coverage speech on the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

“However we count on the US and our companions to step up too. That is very important, as a result of closing the local weather finance hole collectively, the U.S. and the European Union, could be such a robust sign for international local weather management.”

The EU already contributes $25 billion per 12 months in local weather funding, von der Leyen mentioned.

Local weather finance is predicted to be a decisive difficulty on the United Nations’ COP26 summit in November, the place world leaders will try and 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.

Wealthy international locations have up to now didn’t ship their 2009 pledge to supply $100 billion per 12 months in local weather finance to poorer international locations by 2020.

With out assist from rich nations, growing international locations say they can’t make the large investments required to wean their economies off fossil fuels and onto clear power, or bolster their infrastructure to deal with local weather impacts.

Authorities officers in India – the world’s fourth-biggest emitter of the greenhouse gases that heat the planet after China, the US and the EU – have mentioned any additional dedication to scale back their nation’s carbon footprint will rely upon funding from wealthy international locations.

The USA pledged in April to double its public local weather finance for growing international locations by 2024 in comparison with common ranges through the Obama administration, although specialists and campaigners are urging the world’s largest economic system to do extra.

Rich international locations collectively contributed almost $80 billion in 2018. The European Union and its member international locations are, taken collectively, the largest supplier of such funding, based on the OECD.

Von der Leyen mentioned the EU would additionally double its worldwide funding to guard nature and halt the decline of the world’s biodiversity, with out specifying an quantity.