EU Ministers Say The Fossil Fuel Industry should Contribute to Climate Funds

Foreign ministers from EU member states stated on Monday that the fossil fuel sector ought to contribute to the cost of combating climate change in less developed nations, as per a UN target.

Countries must agree on a new global target by November at this year’s U.N. climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, regarding how much wealthy, industrialized nations should give poorer nations to help them deal with the worst effects of climate change.

The European Union is getting ready to make the case that public funding alone cannot meet the new climate finance goal to address the skyrocketing costs of deadly heatwaves, droughts, and rising sea levels.

The foreign affairs ministers of EU member states released a joint statement during a meeting in Brussels on Monday, stating that the EU “calls for additional, new and innovative sources of finance from a wide variety of sources, including from the fossil fuel sector and other high-emission sectors, to be identified and utilized to provide climate finance.”

The EU will continue to insist that big emerging economies and those with high CO2 emissions and per-capita wealth, such as China and Middle Eastern states, contribute to the new U.N. climate finance goal, according to the statement, a draft of which was previously reported by Reuters.

According to its statement, “all countries according to their financial capabilities, including emerging economies, ” should contribute.

During previous UN climate talks, Beijing has opposed this. At this year’s COP29 climate summit, the question of which countries bear the cost is anticipated to be central to discussions.

The new climate finance target is anticipated to be significantly larger than the wealthy nations’ current U.N. commitment to spend $100 billion annually starting in 2020—a target they were unable to meet on schedule.

According to the OECD, by 2025, the real need for climate investment in developing countries may reach $1 trillion annually.