11 December 2009: EU Heads of State and government have agreed on climate “fast start funding” amounting to EUR 2.4 billion per year from 2010 to 2012. The EU now expects the rest of the world to contribute to reach EUR 7 billion.
The EU leaders met as the European Council in Brussels, Belgium, on 10-11 December 2009, while the climate change conference in Copenhagen was ongoing, to review the current negotiations. In the resulting Council Conclusions, EU leaders note that fast-start international public support should imply specific and separate support for adaptation and mitigation, including forestry and capacity building, with a special emphasis on vulnerable and least developed countries. Furthermore, EU leaders encourage other countries to devote themselves fully to reaching a “global, comprehensive, ambitious and politically binding Copenhagen Agreement” that will cover all building blocks of the Bali Action Plan and build on the essential elements of the Kyoto Protocol. EU leaders further consider as a prerequisite for a Copenhagen Agreement “commonly agreed, transparent, international standards for measurement, reporting and verification” to ensure transparency and compliance of commitments, actions and support. In the Conclusions, they also stress the need for the Copenhagen Agreement to lead to a legally binding instrument to be finalized preferably within six months after the Copenhagen Conference.[EU Presidency Press Release][European Council Conclusions]