EU agrees climate change funding position

Europe has agreed how much money it is prepared to to offer poor countries to deal with climate change: between 22 and 50 billion euros per year.
 
This comes out of the latest summit, and leaves the 27-member European Union maneuvring room at the UN climate talks talks in Copenhagen this December. Developing countries say only enough funds from rich countries will get them to tackle climate change.
 
European Commission President José Manuel Barroso said: “We are ready, let’s engage, let’s make Copenhagen a success.”
 
Few details were revealed, but the deal spanned differences between eastern and western EU states. The money would come from public funds, not industry, and the burden would be shared according to a new ‘ability to pay mechanism’.
 
Warsaw is ruling out any naive sacrifices.

Polish State Secretary for European Integration
Mikolaj Dowgielewicz said: ’‘Believe me that in a country like Poland, like mine, we have very limited scope for emission reductions after 2020 because we expect high economic growth. We don’t want to become a museum of folklore of Eastern Europe. I would really welcome more effort from rich western European countries to reduce emissions themselves.’‘
 
Many EU states want various major players to emulate their ambitions. Some would have preferred to wait until other global powers put a figure on their commitment to fighting climate change.

Copyright © 2010 euronews