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Brussels - EU nations are dithering over how to fill a
multi-billion-euro fund to help tackle climate change, just as the region's
executive body hosts talks with countries likely to bear the brunt of extreme
weather.
The EU recommitted to providing €7.2bn ($9.4bn) for the fund
over 2010-12, according to draft conclusions seen by Reuters ahead of a meeting
of EU finance ministers next week.
But after that, how much cash will flow is unclear as the
text - drafted against the backdrop of acute economic crisis in the eurozone -
only states the need to "scale up climate finance from 2013 to 2020" without
specifying how.
The Green Climate Fund aims to channel up to $100bn globally
per year by 2020 to help developing countries deal with the impact of climate
change.
Its design was agreed at international climate talks in
Durban last year.
Europe's climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard is fighting
to build on Durban's fragile agreement to keep alive the United Nations process
on tackling climate change.
On Monday and Tuesday, she will hold informal discussions in
Brussels with members of what some call the "coalition of ambition",
ahead of UN talks in Bonn later this month.
The coalition is a union of the EU, the Alliance of Small
Island States and the Least Developed Countries, which at the UN talks in
Durban played a lead role in forging agreement on keeping alive the Kyoto
process to address global warming.
"I have invited to Brussels today and tomorrow a group
of 30 ambitious countries, represented by their ministers, to discuss how we
can keep up this momentum and continue to achieve results together,"
Hedegaard said in a statement.
'Stubborn'
Non-governmental organisation Oxfam said
"intransigence" from some EU member states was putting the coalition
at risk as they are arguing against firm commitments to finance after 2012.
"At a critical moment in the fight against climate
change, Europe looks to be sitting back rather than stepping up," Lies
Craeynest, Oxfam's EU climate change expert, said.
Debate has also focused on how much of the EU's $30bn share
of the $100bn should come from the private sector, which would reduce the need
for public funds.
The draft conclusions ahead of the May 15 EU ministerial
meeting noted "further efforts are required to clarify the concept of
private financing and its contribution to the $100bn"”.
Some money could come from levies on shipping and aviation,
although these sources are contentious.
Since January, all airlines using EU airports have been
required to offset their carbon emissions using the EU's Emissions Trading
Scheme (ETS), prompting an outcry from some non-EU nations.
The level of protest has intensified effort at the UN's
International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to come up with a global plan
for tackling airline emissions. If achieved, that would justify modifying the
EU scheme, the commission has said.
Experience suggests it would be rash to hope for too much
from the ICAO. The European Commission said the EU was driven to bringing all
airlines into its scheme because more than a decade of talks at ICAO had
produced no result.
The commission is also working with the International
Maritime Organisation (IMO) to find a solution for shipping emissions.
The draft conclusions called on "the EU and its member
states to further engage effectively in negotiations in ICAO and IMO to support
carbon pricing schemes".
