OREANDA-NEWS. November 12, 2015. The EU and its Member States provided €14.5 billion in funding in 2014 to help the poorest and most vulnerable countries reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the consequences of climate change. This is a further significant increase which shows Europe’s determination to contribute its fair share of the USD 100 billion goal set in 2009 for annual finance flows from developed to developing countries by 2020. The European Commission has played a central, coordinating role in the process and continues to be a major donor through its international development funds. In the period 2014-2020, at least 20% of the EU budget will be spent on climate action.

Pierre Moscovici, Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs, said: “The EU has today confirmed its position as the global leader in climate finance. Ahead of the crucial rendez-vous that is COP21, we are delivering significant financial support for developing countries and will continue to do so. We have also set out clear principles today to maximise the effectiveness of climate finance: everyone paying their share in line with their evolving capabilities; achieving the full involvement of the private sector by ensuring the right enabling environments; and targeting funds to the most vulnerable countries.”

Miguel Arias Caete, Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy, said: "With only a few weeks before COP21 in Paris, today's news is most welcome. And the message is very clear: the EU is ready to continue to do its part as the world's biggest donor of climate finance, and we are committed to scaling up our support. As the OECD report showed very recently, the world is on track to deliver the USD 100 billion goal. This puts us in good stead for the last weeks of intense political engagement in order to seal an ambitious deal in Paris. It is now time to translate the political will we have seen recently into concrete negotiation results."

Ahead of the international climate change negotiations in Paris later this month, the Commission also welcomes Finance Ministers' commitment to continue providing public climate finance focused on the poorest, most vulnerable and most in need after 2020, when a new global climate agreement is due to enter into force.

The Commission also supports the call for the Paris talks to send a strong signal to the private sector to reorient financial flows towards low-emission and climate-resilient investments. Climate finance needs to be supported by enabling environments such as appropriate national development plans, climate strategies, policies, instruments, mechanisms and regulatory frameworks to facilitate private sector action.

In the Council conclusions, Ministers stress the need to increase investments in low-emission and climate-resilient development, the need to phase down high-carbon investments, and the importance of carbon pricing, which can be achieved through a variety of tools, such as regulation, emissions trading schemes or carbon taxes.

The Commission joins the ECOFIN Council in welcoming the recent report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI), which shows that developed countries have made substantial progress on climate financing. According to the OECD report, developed countries mobilised a total of USD 62 billion of climate finance in 2014, and USD 52 billion in 2013. However, further efforts will be needed if developed countries are to jointly meet their USD 100 billion a year pledge by 2020.