France urges EU to tie climate finance to stronger commitments, questioning €500m support for India as it delays updated emissions plans under the Paris Agreement and pushing for stricter conditions.
France has signalled it may oppose European Union funding for India’s green transition, urging stricter conditions on climate commitments from emerging economies.
France’s ecological transition minister Monique Barbut said the EU should adopt a firmer and more transactional stance in Climate negotiations. Speaking to AFP, she pointed to India as a key example following its major trade agreement with Brussels signed in January.
Under that deal, the EU is set to provide 500 million euros (574 million dollars) to support India’s shift toward greener development. However, Barbut questioned the timing of such funding.
“she is not in favour of such funding until India submits a Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) in accordance with its commitments and it adopts a slightly different approach towards the European Union in climate negotiations,” she said.
NDCs are national plans outlining how countries will reduce planet-warming emissions. Signatories to the 2015 Paris climate agreement are required to update these plans every five years.
More than 60 countries, including major recipients of climate finance such as India, Egypt and the Philippines, have yet to submit their latest NDCs after missing a United Nations deadline last year.
India remains the world’s third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, behind China and the United States.
Barbut said the EU must take a tougher line overall in climate diplomacy by linking financial support more directly to measurable action.
“This clearly means: ‘We only pay if you act’,” she said, noting she had communicated her concerns to the European Commission.
“Europe should only provide financial support to countries that themselves make credible commitments within the framework of the Paris Agreement.”
EU climate ministers are expected to discuss the bloc’s climate diplomacy during a meeting in Brussels on Tuesday.
