A crucial fund to help developing countries cope with the consequences of climate change is being delayed due to EU backtracking on promises to be the driver of climate action.

Speaking from the UN climate summit in Bonn, GUE/NGL MEP Estefanía Torres Martínez has warned of a missed opportunity after news that the much-awaited “loss & damage fund” developing countries have been fighting for is to be postponed again to next year. 

The Spanish MEP is taking part in the European Parliament delegation to COP23* and is attending daily briefings about the progress of the negotiations by Miguel Arias Cañete, the EU Commissioner on Climate Action & Energy.

“The COP23 is slowing down. Instead of being ambitious and delivering on the Doha Agreement, Commissioner Cañete admitted that the agenda is shy. Instead of compensating for the lack of initiative in the last summit in Marrakesh, we heard that the roadmap and engagements on the loss & damage fund are to be postponed to spring 2018. Therefore, the only meaningful topics left are focused on the adaptation & mitigation funds and associated pledges.”

“The EU is promising a lot but is likely to be inconsistent. The Polish government is the only EU member state not to have ratified the Doha Agreement and their explanation is eagerly awaited in the plenary. Likewise Germany, a major contributor to climate change funds, is reflecting on their investments and they have even had to delay the closure of coal plants, not to mention their rising CO2 emissions.”

Torres Martínez expressed hopes for a return to urgency as the end of COP23 draws near:

“As usual, negotiations even on a restricted agenda are going to accelerate in these last days of the summit. We will continue monitoring the impact of responses to the dramatic calls for policy leadership coming from the scientific bodies, mainly from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and their intermediate reports, and from the most vulnerable countries and populations,” the Spanish MEP concluded.

*The COP23 summit is the 23rd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UN Convention on Climate Change