CAFOD response to EU Fast Start Finance Progress Report

Back in the autumn you lobbied the Chancellor George Osborne to push EU finance ministers to open up about the money promised in Copenhagen. The EU promised €7.2 billion to help poor countries cope with the impacts of climate change and prepare for a low carbon future.

The EU has now released a new report on the progress of their new Fast Start Finance. With talks well under way in Cancun, our climate change spokesperson Dr Jasber Singh took time out of a hectic schedule to comment on the report: “This report is a welcome step towards building much-needed trust at Cancun and beyond. The leadership from the UK and EU on Fast Start Finance indicates the willingness of the industrialised nations to take the needs of the poorest nations seriously in the face of increasingly damaging impacts of changes in climate.

“But the EU still needs to address the shortfall in funding for adaptation. Adaptation is vital because it means helping poorer people cope with the impacts of climate change, for example, by planting mangrove forests to protect areas against flooding or researching drought-resistant crops. Currently, only a third of funding is going to adaptation.

“The lack of clarity in the report on whether money will be in addition to existing aid budgets is also a concern, with over-stretched development aid being spread even more thinly to include climate change. This threatens the progress made on health and education in countries where climate impacts hit hardest.

“The report also confirmed that nearly half of Fast Start Finance would be delivered through loans and other mechanisms such as debt swaps. But there was no clarity on whether this would mean new debt for some of the poorest countries as they try to fight the effects of climate change.

“There’s still some work to be done. To truly build trust, we need both a single Global Climate Fund that the UNFCCC oversees and agreement on where the extra money should come from.”