European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs Pierre Moscovici and Jonathan Taylor Vice-President for Climate and Energy at the European Investment Bank, have said unlocking real success in Paris will depend on financing. They agreed to develop more innovative ways to attract finance and private investment for climate action projects globally.
As the COP 21 negotiations in Paris approach their second week, the issue of climate finance is taking centre stage. At a special high-level event at the margins of the COP in the "EU Pavillion", Commissioner Moscovici and Vice-President Taylor have been exploring the way ahead with the African Development Bank and the Green Climate Fund.
The EU and its Member States are a global leader in climate finance, with EUR 14.5 billion delivered in 2014, commitments to upscale by 2020, and a further rise of official development assistance by 2030. The European Investment Bank is the largest Multilateral Development Bank when it comes to financing projects and combatting climate change. The bank expects to finance at least USD 100 billion in climate action investments over the next five years. The EIB will also increase the proportion of its lending in support of climate related investment in developing countries from 25% to 35% by 2020.
Opening the discussion in Paris, Commissioner Moscovici said, "The EU and its Member States provided 14.5 billion euros in public climate finance last year and we will continue to play our full part in this global effort. Yet the investment needs for a global low-carbon transition are larger than public coffers are deep. That’s why unlocking private finance will be essential for achieving the scale of investments we need."
EIB Vice-President Jonathan Taylor said, "If world leaders reach an agreement here at this conference, they will have taken a momentous step towards protecting our planet. However, it will still only be a start. To make true progress on climate change, financing holds the key."
"The EIB has a very strong track record of deploying products and instruments to overcome barriers to financing climate action. Because we operate right across Europe and in all the other parts of the world where the EU has relations, we are uniquely placed to transfer knowledge and experience between our operations within and outside the EU," he added.
Also taking part in the debate were Solomon Asamoah, Vice-President for Infrastructure and Regional Development at the African Development Bank and the Green Climate Fund's Director of Country Programming, Ousseynou Nakoulima.