EU pledges €4 billion for international climate finance.
On Wednesday, the European Union pledged to help poor countries combat climate change with an additional 4 billion euros by 2027. The EU is pressing for adjustments because of the impact and is calling on the United States to cooperate.
The EU expects the U.S. and other allies to engage as well, which is very important to close the climate finance gap together with the United States. In doing so, the EU will send a strong signal of global leadership on climate change.
The EU has already committed $25 billion a year to climate change funding.
Climate finance is expected to be the critical issue at the United Nations COP26 summit in November 2021. World leaders will seek to fulfill their pledges to accelerate reductions in carbon dioxide emissions and prevent escalating climate change.
Seven weeks before the meeting of heads of state and government at COP26, financing for poor countries remains a controversial issue.
So far, rich countries have failed to deliver on their 2009 pledges to provide $100 billion a year by 2020 to fund climate change in poor countries.
Without support, some developing countries may not be able to make the huge investments needed to phase out or reduce fossil fuel use. Nor would they be able to use clean energy or support infrastructure to cope with storms, floods, and rising sea levels.
According to the OECD, the European Union and its member states together are the largest donor of climate finance to developing countries.