PM hails EU "breakthrough" on climate financing

The agreement indicated that €22 billion to € 50 billion of this money would have to come from global public finance, and that richer countries would need to find €5 billion to €7 billion a year for a ‘fast-track’ scheme to reduce carbon emissions between 2010 and 2012.

However, some environmental groups have criticised the EU Council for not putting enough money on the table and for failing to make it clear how much of the global finance package will be funded by the EU itself.

Friday’s agreement on financing follows months of debate and the failure of finance ministers to reach a decision earlier this month. 

“We were aware that if the European Union did not come together to solve some of the impasses, the possibility of a deal at the Copenhagen summit would be a lot less likely,” the Prime Minister said.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the agreement was “an important breakthrough that brings new momentum” and which signaled a “negotiating mandate” for Copenhagen.

According to the Prime Minister, the EU Council has estimated that Europe’s contribution to the global bill will be in the range of €22 billion to €50 billion a year by 2020 (subject to negotiations) – though this goes further than Friday’s agreement which only said the EU would pay its “fair share”, on the condition that other countries also contribute. 

David Norman, director of campaigns at WWF-UK expressed frustration at this lack of detail: “Despite the clear need for the EU to nail its colours to the mast regarding finance and emissions targets in advance of Copenhagen, today's outcome gives no clear figure for the European contribution to a global financial package. 

“While European leaders have at least acknowledged that substantial sums of public money will be needed to help developing nations cope with the challenges of climate change, they have failed to set out Europe's share or to flesh out options for new, additional sources of finance – notably money drawn from the international aviation and shipping industries."

Friends of the Earth's senior international climate campaigner Asad Rehman had a more fundamental objection to the agreement: “The money on the table is nowhere near enough to ensure developing countries can grow cleanly and adapt to the effects of climate change,” he said.

He added: “Most of this cash would come from a global carbon market rather than from European governments themselves – yet rich countries, including the UK, are some of the chief culprits for causing climate change and have a responsibility to provide this money from the public purse.”

As part of Friday’s agreement, the EU Council also reaffirmed its conditional offer of moving from 20 per cent to 30 per cent emissions reductions by 2020, should a sufficiently ambitious global climate deal be reached.

WWF-UK’s Norman said it was frustrating that this increase in CO2 emission reduction targets had been made subject to the actions of other developed countries. 

The EU should have set its own, firm target, he said, “And one which aligns with scientific opinion that industrialised nations must cut emissions by 40 per cent over 1990 levels by 2020 in order to stay below two degrees.

"In actual fact, in order to reach its current 20 per cent reduction pledge, Europe would have to slow the current pace of emissions reductions. What kind of signal does that send to the rest of the world ahead of Copenhagen?”

But the European Commission President believes that the progress made last week puts Europe on track for a deal at Copenhagen. “Now we can look the rest of the world in the eye and say that we Europeans have done our job. We have a clear mandate ahead of Copenhagen and an ambitious climate package,” he suggested.

“On Tuesday [...] Fredrik Reinfeldt [the Swedish Prime Minister] and I will meet the President of the USA. We will be able to take this with us and say, ‘we are ready. Let us make Copenhagen a success’.”



Gordon Brown was similarly bullish: “I think this is a breakthrough that takes us forward to Copenhagen and makes a Copenhagen agreement possible,” he said.