10 October 2017: The European Council adopted a set of conclusions setting out the EU position on climate change finance ahead of the 23rd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 23) to the UNFCCC, which will take place in Bonn, Germany, from 6-17 November 2017.

In its conclusions, the European Council reaffirms its support for the timely implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate change and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It reiterates the importance of making progress on the Paris Agreement’s “transformational objective” of making finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low-carbon and climate-resilient development, highlighting carbon pricing as a key component of an enabling environment for shifting investments towards green and sustainable production technologies, and for promoting innovative solutions. In this context, it supports carbon pricing initiatives and initiatives promoting the phasing out of environmentally and economically harmful subsidies.

The European Council stresses the need to better mobilize the private sector’s potential through a robust enabling policy environment.

The conclusions reaffirm the EU’s commitment to scaling up the mobilization of international climate finance for mitigation and adaptation. They emphasize the role of public as well as private climate finance, and stress the need to better mobilize the private sector’s potential through a robust enabling policy environment.

The Council welcomes efforts of multilateral development banks to mainstream climate considerations across their portfolios, and encourages them to further reduce the financing of coal power plants, taking into account the current development and energy needs of partner countries.

On the Paris Agreement’s transparency framework, the conclusions support the need to further develop methodologies for tracking private finance mobilized through public interventions, encouraging the application of the principles for accounting for mobilized private finance being developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Research Collaborative and the Development Assistance Committee (DAC).

Highlighting the need to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the current institutional architecture for climate finance, the European Council stresses the importance of scaling up resources to support the poorest and particularly vulnerable developing countries, such as Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and small island developing States (SIDS), particularly through adaptation finance. [European Council Conclusions on Climate Finance] [Economic and Financial Affairs Council Meeting Webpage] [OECD Research Collaborative Webpage] [OECD DAC Webpage]