Climate finance in developing countries: France passes the €6 billion mark and exceeds its commitments (9 november 2022)

On 22 September 2022 the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published a report on finance mobilized by developed countries for climate action in developing countries between 2016 and 2020, based on the latest available data.

In 2009, the developed countries collectively pledged to mobilize $100 billion a year of climate finance for developing countries from 2020. This commitment was confirmed in 2015 at COP21, until 2025.

The OECD analysis states that public and private finance mobilized by the developed countries reached $83.3 billion in 2020, including $68.3 billion of public finance and $13.1 billion of private finance mobilized by public interventions. This finance is up only 4% compared to 2019, a small increase driven by finance from public sources and limited by the decrease in private finance mobilized by public interventions.

With the publication of the report, Bruno Le Maire, Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty, Catherine Colonna, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Minister for the Energy Transition, and Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, Minister of State for Development, Francophonie and International Partnerships, reaffirm France’s commitment to financing climate change mitigation and adaptation in developing countries.

In 2020, France mobilized €5.08 billion, including €1.96 billion for climate change adaptation.

In December 2020, President Macron announced that France’s financial commitment would be stepped up, taking it to €6 billion a year for the years 2021 to 2025, including one-third dedicated to adaptation.

The international climate finance mobilized by France therefore sharply increased in 2021, reaching €6.1 billion, including €2.2 billion for adaptation. So despite the COVID-19 crisis, France has once again honoured and exceeded its commitments.

Ahead of COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, France calls on those developed countries which have not yet done so to set themselves ambitious climate finance targets and implement them urgently so that the $100 billion target may be reached.

Bruno Le Maire, Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty, said, “In terms of public finance, France is playing its full role and honouring its commitments, both in terms of the overall volume of climate finance and earmarking [funds] for adaptation, which is collectively expected to be doubled in 2025. But we must go further and faster by mobilizing more private actors: the Economy and Finance Ministry will therefore lead this fight for the alignment of all financial flows, public and private. Indeed, only on this scale will we be able to cover the whole cost of the climate transition. In concrete terms, this means mobilizing the other sources of international finance such as development banks, and above all, mobilizing all the private sector’s financial players, as we’re doing in France and Europe by giving ourselves an extremely clear, stringent framework for declaring and monitoring flows.”

Catherine Colonna, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, said, “Financing the fight against climate change and the adaptation to its impact are at the heart of France’s policy of mutually supportive development. France is doing its fair share in the collective effort, as several reports published by civil society have highlighted, with a clear, ambitious goal: €6 billion every year until 2025. With €2.2 billion annually devoted to adaptation, i.e. more than one-third of the amount, France is also showing that it is attentive to the priority needs of developing countries, most of which emit small amounts of greenhouse gas while being the first to be affected by the impact of climate change. We have kept our word and will continue to do so.”

Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Minister for the Energy Transition, said: “Combating climate disruption requires ambitious resources to be implemented. In this regard, France has honoured its climate finance commitments by providing €6 billion a year. However, the OECD’s report on the developed countries’ $100-billion collective commitment notes insufficient progress. In a spirit of solidarity and with the intention of raising global climate ambitions, we must continue to commit all stakeholders, private and public, French and international, to taking part in this effort. By keeping its promise of financial commitment and giving our climate ambition concrete shape in European law during our European Union presidency, France is ready to take up the challenge of a successful COP27 by calling on all countries to raise the ambition of their climate actions.”

Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, Minister of State for Development, Francophonie and International Partnerships, attached to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, concluded: “Behind the figures, France is supporting concrete projects jointly built with the beneficiary countries, such as the Just Energy Transition Partnership with South Africa to speed up the move away from coal, the development of agriculture resilient to climate change in the Sahel by means of the Great Green Wall, and the protection of the natural carbon sinks of the Congo Basin’s forests.”