Europe: The Secret Weapon for Global Climate Change Deal
Steam billows from the cooling towers at the Loy Yang A coal-fired power station, operated by AGL Energy Ltd., front, and Loy Yang B coal-fired power station, co-owned by GDF Suez Australian Energy and Mitsui & Co., rear, on the outskirts of Traralgon, Australia.
Photographer: Carla Gottgens/BloombergThere are almost 200 nations meeting in Paris in December at the United Nations global climate summit, and the prospects for a deal are uncertain -- French President Francois Hollande said Thursday it may already be too late to reach an agreement on emissions targets. One big developed-world bloc -- the European Union -- could help break the deadlock. That's if it can pull itself together in time.
Europe is in the lead in terms of its financial efforts to mitigate rising global temperatures and adapt to the consequences. Official development aid for climate-change purposes reached $24.9 billion in 2013, far ahead of the U.S., China, and the rest of the world combined. Even so, the EU, representing about 500 million citizens, could do a lot more if countries pooled funding instead of the 28 member states pursuing their own policies. That's the analysis of Guntram Wolff and Georg Zachmann, researchers at the Brussels-based Bruegel Institute who will present a report on climate finance to a meeting of the EU's finance ministers in Luxembourg Friday.