30 October 2009: After several months of internal discussions, the EU Heads of State and government agreed on a negotiating position on climate financing for Copenhagen. EU leaders met in Brussels, Belgium, on 29-30 October 2009, as the European Council, to finalize the EU negotiating position on climate change, among other issues. They agreed that 100 million euro will be necessary in the next ten years to support developing countries’ efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change, and that an additional 5 to 7 billion euro will be needed by developing countries annually between 2010 and 2012.
EU leaders further agreed that 22 to 50 billion euro should come from international public funding, “subject to a fair burden sharing at the global level in line with the distribution key to be agreed by Parties, a governance arrangement and delivery towards specific mitigation actions and ambitious Low Carbon Development Strategies/Low Carbon Growth Plans.” The EU will take “its fair share” of international public funding, on the condition that other countries also contribute. In addition, the EU leaders reached an agreement on internal burden sharing, which had been highly contentious in previous negotiations.
The Council also noted that “all countries, except the least developed, should contribute to international public financing, through a comprehensive global distribution key based on emission levels and on GDP to reflect both responsibility for global emissions and ability to pay, with a considerable weight on emission levels. The weight on emissions should increase over time to allow for adjustments of economies.” EU leaders, in addition, expressed support for the establishment of a high-level forum/body to be set up under the guidance of the UNFCCC to provide an overview of international sources for climate financing in developing countries.
According to the President of the European Commission, the agreement on climate financing is “essential” to confirm the EU’s leadership and credibility in the lead-up to Copenhagen. The EU Presidency and the President of the European Commission are now preparing for a bilateral meeting with the US President, to be held on 3 November 2009, in Washington DC, US. The meeting will be the first formal EU-US summit for the Obama Administration, and will address, among other things, the international climate change negotiations and a new initiative for EU-US energy cooperation. [EU Presidency Press Release] [European Commission President’s Speech] [Council Conclusions] [EU-US Summit Announcement]