Contributions from the EU and its member states to help developing countries reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and cope with the impacts of climate change showed a sharp increase in 2015, particularly for adaptation finance.
The total was confirmed on 24 October 2016 at a meeting of the EU Economic and Financial Committee, ahead of a UN climate change conference in Marrakesh.
Total contributions from the EU and its member states amounted to €17.6 billion in 20151, a significant increase compared to 2014. The contributions were successfully channelled into climate change mitigation and adaptation initiatives in developing countries.
The contribution is seen as an important step towards the implementation of the legally binding climate change agreement reached in Paris in December 2015.
The latest figure demonstrates the EU’s determination to scale up its international climate finance contribution towards the $100 billion per year goal set for industrialised countries by 2020 and through until 2025. Before 2025, the parties to the UN framework convention on climate change will set a new collective goal.
In response to the Paris conference, outcome in 2015, the member states also particularly welcome the concrete ‘roadmap’ prepared by developed countries, which illustrates the measures developed countries are taking to achieve the $100 billion goal. Contributions for mitigation and adaptation will be jointly mobilised from a wide variety of sources: public and private, bilateral and multilateral, including alternative sources of finance and with transparency of implementation.
1 – This figure includes climate finance sources from public budgets and other development financial institutions, as reported by member states in the context of article 16 of regulation 525/2013. It also includes €1.5 billion from the EU budget and €2.2 billion from the European Investment Bank.
