Brussels – Finance ministers meeting in Luxembourg on Tuesday adopted the European Union’s position on climate finance, ahead of the COP29 UN climate change conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, on 11-22 November

While ministers agreed that public funding is critical to support developing countries to respond to climate breakdown, they failed to mention the responsibility of the fossil fuel industry and other big polluters to pay up for their role in driving the climate crisis.

Greenpeace EU climate political campaigner Lorelei Limousin said: “Extreme events like devastating floods and hurricanes are hitting countries all over the world, while big polluters continue to rake in record-breaking profits. It’s time for governments and the EU to hold them accountable and make them pay for the damage and suffering they cause. EU environment and climate ministers meeting next week must address the major gap left by finance ministers on the responsibility of big polluters.”  

Climate Action Network estimates that developing countries need at least $1 trillion per year in public finance. The EU’s outsized responsibility for causing the climate crisis and its relative wealth mean it has a leading role to play in scaling up international climate finance, said Greenpeace, including by increasing taxes on big polluters.

EU environment and climate ministers will meet on 14 October to adopt the general position of the EU for COP29.

The fossil fuel industry has never had it so good: the five big oil and gas companies have made $281 billion in profits since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and still benefit from huge amounts of public subsidies (€123 billion in 2022).

Contacts:

Lorelei Limousin – Greenpeace EU senior political campaigner on climate: +32 (0)477 790415, [email protected]

Greenpeace EU press desk: +32 (0)2 274 1911, [email protected]

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