The EU member states commitments on climate finance so far add up to less than two thirds of what was pledged in Copenhagen. The EU pledged €2.4 billion per year to help developing countries fight the effects of climate change.
The EU plans to hold talks on how it will spend the climate funds in June, yet a report from the World Resources Institute (WRI) has calculated that the sum so far committed reaches only €1.52billion a year. This includes commitments from Germany, Ireland, France, UK, and the Netherlands.
The global figure, which includes the only other two countries that agreed fast track financial commitments at Copenhagen,the USA and Japan, currently stands at $23billion some $7billion short of an agreed $30 billion a year.
The key concern raised in the WRI study is that the current financial contributions are not new and additional to existing aid and developmnt funds, something that was called for by developing nations during the climate talks in Copenhagen. NGO's such as Greenpeace and Oxfam have continually raised concerns that the financial commitments would simply be made from existing finances already set aside for aid in developing nations.
The WRI report shows that all of the €420m pledged by Germany will count towards their 0.7% Overseas Development Aid commitment, while over half of the £500m pledged by the UK was already paid out to the World Bank after being commited as far back as 2007.