Council approves 2020 climate finance figure
In 2020, €23.39 billion1 in climate finance was committed by the European Union and its 27 member states to support developing countries in reducing their greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to the impacts of climate change. This figure was approved by the Council today, in preparation for the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), which will take place from 31 October to 12 November in Glasgow. The figure is based on new, more detailed EU climate finance reporting rules.2
In 2020, close to 50% of the funding for developing countries was dedicated to either climate adaptation or cross-cutting action (involving both climate change mitigation and adaptation initiatives) and close to half of the total funding was committed in the form of grants, according to data compiled by the European Commission.
The EU and its member states are determined to continue scaling up their international climate finance towards the developed countries’ collective goal of mobilising USD 100 billion per year, applicable through to 2025. They have recently made concrete pledges to enhance their contributions in the coming years as part of a climate finance ‘delivery plan’ that donor countries published on 25 October 2021.*
International public climate finance plays an important role in helping developing countries to implement the 2015 Paris climate change agreement.
1 Climate finance from public budgets includes EUR 2.5 billion from the EU budget and European Development Fund and EUR 2.7 billion from the European Investment Bank. The overall figure is calculated on the basis of commitments made for bilateral and multilateral support. As this represents a change compared to past reporting methodology, this year’s figure cannot be compared directly with figures reported in previous years. As certain commitments cover a multi-annual period, reported annual amounts may fluctuate over time.
2 EU Member States have, this year, reported data on commitments pursuant to Article 19.3 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018 (‘Governance Regulation’) and Article 6 and Annexes III-V of Commission Implementing Regulation 2020/1208.
