France has warned it may block the disbursement of EU climate funds to India if the country does not strengthen its efforts to tackle global warming, officials said Monday (Mar 16).
France’s Ecological Transition Minister Monique Barbut told AFP that the European Union should adopt a firmer stance against climate inaction and take a “more transactional” approach in negotiations with emerging economies.
She singled out India, which signed a major trade agreement with the EU in January, under which Brussels pledged €500 million (US$574 million) to support India’s green transition.
“I am not in favour of such funding until India submits a Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) in line with its commitments and adopts a slightly different approach toward the European Union in climate negotiations,” Barbut said.
NDCs are national plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which countries signing the 2015 Paris climate agreement must submit every five years. More than 60 countries, including major climate finance recipients such as India, Egypt, and the Philippines, have yet to provide their latest submissions, missing a UN deadline last year.
India is the world’s third-largest greenhouse gas emitter, after China and the United States. Barbut emphasised that the EU must take a “tougher, more strategic and transactional” approach, insisting that financial support should only go to countries that make credible climate commitments under the Paris Agreement.
“Europe should only provide financial support to countries that themselves make credible commitments,” she said, noting that she had formally raised her concerns with the European Commission.
EU climate ministers are scheduled to discuss the bloc’s climate diplomacy, including funding strategies, at a meeting in Brussels on Tuesday.
