ActionAid calls on EU to repay its climate debt
News hook: European Summit (29-30 October)
On 29th October, ActionAid activists from across Europe and Africa are coming to Brussels to collect the EU’s climate debt! Join them at 09:00 in Petite Rue de la Loi (between Rond Point Schuman and Parc Cinquantenaire)
For more information and interviews, please contact Chris Coxon: Chris.Coxon@actionaid.org or +32 488 878 381
(Brussels, 29/10/09): As EU leaders meet today in Brussels, ActionAid climate debt collectors call on the EU to provide €42 billion a year to tackle climate change in developing countries. Today’s European Summit represents the last chance for EU leaders to deliver additional climate finance that meets the EU’s historical responsibility for climate change, before December’s Copenhagen conference begins.
Step up, pay up!
ActionAid estimates that the EU should be providing at least €42 billion a year to developing countries by 2020. Around half of this figure should go to helping people to adapt to climate change in the most vulnerable countries.
Without a financial commitment at the European Summit, a fair outcome in Copenhagen will be difficult to reach. Developed countries have a historical responsibility for climate change but are looking for any opportunity to avoid paying. The developing world is waiting for the EU to act.
Farah Kabir, ActionAid’s Country Director in Bangladesh: In Bangladesh alone, we’re losing 17% of our land because the sea water level is rising. We estimate that 90 million people, or the population of Germany, will become climate refugees. So we are calling on the EU to meet its historical responsibility; to step up and pay up!
Fund the fight, don’t fix the figures!
At a time when European leaders are looking to trim their budgets, it is vital that new funding committed to fight climate change is in addition to existing Overseas Development Aid (ODA) commitments, such as the long-standing 0.7 target.
ActionAid estimates that by 2020, developing countries will need at least €132 billion a year to tackle climate change1. These funds will be used to provide finance and technology to developing countries, enabling them to adapt, reduce their emissions and chart low-emission pathways out of poverty.
Farah Kabir, ActionAid’s Country Director in Bangladesh: ODA should not be replaced with funding for climate justice. It’s about compensation, not taking development assistance and funding climate change. You have to act now, internationally and locally. It’s not about tomorrow, it’s about yesterday and today. We need a deal now!
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
1 €66 billion for adaptation and €66 billion for mitigation.
Rich countries’ ‘climate debt’ and how they can repay it- An ActionAid rough guide