Brussels, 10 October 2018
Ahead of the General Affairs Council meeting on 16 October, business associations, think tanks and civil society urge EU ministers to align the next future EU budget with the Paris Agreement and the UN development goals.
The open letter, signed by 101 organisations and sent today to EU ministers of European and Foreign Affairs demands a dramatic improvement of climate action spending in the future EU budget. More money should be invested in the clean energy and transport transition, ecosystem protection and sustainable farming, and solid safeguards are needed to ensure climate compatibility of all funding programmes.
The recently published IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C shows the urgency of tackling run-away climate change, and that we still have the capacity to avoid the worst impacts of climate change and its huge economic costs. With its multiple funding programmes for energy, transport, agriculture, buildings, waste and international cooperation, the EU budget has great potential to better support the just transition to clean and sustainable economies throughout Europe and the world.
Wendel Trio, Director of Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe, said: “The sooner and the more we invest in the clean energy transition, the better for citizens and our economies. 40% of the future EU budget needs to benefit zero-carbon projects and not one cent should go to fossil fuels, gas included. This is the only way European public finance can help the world keep temperature rise to 1.5°C by the middle of this century.”
Contact:
Nicolas Derobert, CAN Europe Communications Coordinator, nicolas@caneurope.org, +32 483 62 18 88