Figures that were expected. Three days before the start of COP29 in Azerbaijan, the General Directorate of the Treasury made public this Friday the 2023 amount of “climate financing” of France, down 5% over one year, but still among the highest in the world.
Concretely, in 2023, France has provided 7.2 billion euros to projects with positive impacts for the planet in developing countries, including 2.8 billion which are dedicated to adaptation to climate change, specifies the press release. from Bercy.
Mainly bank loans
These sums, which are generally disbursed by the French Development Agency (AFD), mainly take the form of loans (79%) and donations (15%). A proportion which has sparked criticism from many NGOs, who are asking rich countries to increase their share of subsidies to poor countries in the South, the first to be impacted by the consequences of climate change.
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Also note: in terms of climate finance, France had disbursed some 7.6 billion euros in 2022, or around 400 million more than in 2023. Over the period 2020-2023, indicates Bercy, France has therefore provided “on average 6.97 billion euros of climate finance per year”. Within the European Union, France represents 31% of European climate financing in 2023.
« We must collectively do better to mobilize all sources and financing instruments and further involve the private sector, in a partnership approach essential for achieving our climate objectives. », Reacted the Minister of the Economy, Antoine Armand, quoted in the press release.
France among the major contributors
Despite the drop in funding, these figures place France among the main contributors to international climate finance. Within the European Union, France is the second contributing country behind Germany.
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“France is thus considered as one of the countries most clearly exceeding its 'fair share' in the objective set at COP15 in 2009, where developed countries collectively committed to mobilizing 100 billion dollars per year of climate financing for developing countries until 2025 »adds the press release. This global target was exceeded for the first time in 2022, with $115.9 billion recorded by the OECD.
COP29 on the horizon
The subject of the financial contribution of rich countries to the climate will be one of the main ones of COP29, which starts in Baku on Monday. On this front, France and the European Union will try to obtain a more ambitious plan for after 2025. One of the challenges of the negotiations will be to broaden the basis of “contributors”. By calling on China in particular, or even the Gulf countries, which today contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions. But the latter are reluctant because they believe that they are not the historical responsible for climate change, pointing the finger at the rich and industrialized countries of the West.
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“At COP29, France and the European Union will work to ensure that the new climate finance objective for developing countries is ambitious and fair”comments for her part the Minister of Ecological Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher.
“We particularly hope that all countries that have the financial capacity to contribute in order to increase funding intended to support decarbonization and adaptation to climate change in developing countries, particularly the most vulnerable, because such projects have positive impacts for all”, adds the minister.
And Jean-Noël Barrot, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, added: “At COP29 in Baku, France and the European Union will be fully mobilized to obtain a more ambitious, more effective and fairer objective so that no country has to choose between the fight against poverty and the protection of planet. »
(With AFP)
