The Council adopted conclusions on climate change. It endorsed a report on the finance provided for "fast-start measures" to help developing countries combat climate change and its effects.
The report, to be presented to a United Nations climate change conference in Doha, shows that the EU and its Member States have already all but met their EUR 7.2 billion commitment to fast-start financing for the 2010-12 period for the fast-start finance (FSF) (with 40.5% of the total to fund mitigation action, 30.1% to support adaptation, 13.0% to support action to reduce deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries and 16.4% for a range of other miscellaneous activities supported). Disbursement will continue beyond 2012 in line with project cycles committed between 2010 and 2012.
The Council insists that the EU continues to finance the combat of climate change over the 2013-2020 period from a wide variety of sources, public finance and private sector finance, bilateral and multilateral, including alternative sources of finance, as needed to reach the international long term committed goal of mobilizing jointly US$100 billion per year by 2020 in the context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation with a view to reducing global greenhouse gas emissions so as to keep the increase in global average temperature below 2 °C compared to preindustrial levels.
The EU, in providing finance for adaptation, will continue to take into account the needs of the particularly vulnerable developing countries, including the Small Islands Developing States, the Least Developed Countries and Africa.
The Council reiterates that the market-based instruments including in the area of global aviation and maritime transportation would generate the necessary price signal to efficiently achieve more emission reductions from these sectors and could generate large financial flows including for climate finance. In this context, it reiterates its call for tangible progress within ICAO and IMO towards global and effective carbon pricing schemes.
The Council also recalls that efficiency and effectiveness are paramount to the mitigation and REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) actions funded reaching their objective of limiting the emission of greenhouse gases. Climate finance needs to deliver on mitigation and adaptation taking into account the respective capabilities of developing countries.
Lastly, the Council welcomes the initial work of the Board and the Interim Secretariat of the Green Climate Fund (GCF). It encourages the Board of the GCF to ensure the expeditious operationalization of the GCF as a cost-effective and efficient fund that will strive to maximise the impact of its funding. It also stresses that the issue of the EU participation to the GCF Board should be resolved swiftly.