Remarks by Executive Vice-President Timmermans at the Ministerial side event on the Team Europe Initiative on climate change adaptation and resilience in Africa

“Check against delivery”

Thank you very much. And let me acknowledge what you are saying. It is a difficult COP. But has there ever been a COP that was easy? Not in my experience. So, it’s all part of what we need to do. But what I want to talk today about is the challenges we face together.

Every day we are reminded about the grave impacts of the climate crisis. You know, Africa has seen incredible droughts, incredible floods, East Africa is now suffering from a terrible drought. You’ve had the locust infestations, you’ve had coastal degradation at levels that are incredible. You see desertification causing levels of migration that are causing tensions then in other countries. I mean, it is clear this is a challenge Africa can’t face alone.

And I think we need to make sure this burden is shouldered by all of us. We did a lot of work last year in Glasgow, but the honest truth is that the world is not on track to keep the temperature rise to 1.5 degrees. We need more ambition.

We need more action on all fronts of the Glasgow Climate Pact: adaptation, climate finance and definitely also mitigation. With the EU we’re ready to go beyond what we had previously indicated. Now, we have said we would reduce our emissions by 55% by 2030. I can now say that we will be at least 57% due to the legislation we have agreed with the Council and the European Parliament’s.

This, of course, is as the Presidency has said, an implementation COP and this is the time to deliver. It is also an African COP. An adaptation COP. Adaptation is a global issue with different needs in different regions. Africa has contributed least to where we are today. Yet many of the countries on this continent are among the most vulnerable to climate change and are suffering more than many other places. So, we need to step up our game for adaptation in Africa.

Finance for adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction must be mobilized at greater speed and scale, significantly to the needs of the African continent. We have a work programme for the global goal on adaptation and we should build on that to be ready for next year’s stocktake.

The EU and its member states have been a steadfast partner and a consistent, reliable donor of climate finance. Last year again, our joint contributions surpassed 27 billion dollars. This contribution has greatly increased in recent years, more than doubling since 2013. More than half of it is now dedicated to either adaptation or projects that support both adaptation and mitigation.

Still, we know that we too can do more and that we can do better to support vulnerable countries, and we take that responsibility.

That is why I am happy to announce at this event that together the European Union and four Member States, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark, will provide over 1 billion euros to support adaptation in Africa.

Together with our partners in the African Union Commission, and I salute the commissioner who is here with us tonight, this initiative brings together existing and new adaptation programs and ensures coordinated delivery on the ground.

This 1 billion initiative is a starting point. Other member states can join and we also encourage development banks to join.

The team Europe approach means more money, and money better spent.

To go into a little more detail, the initiative does four things.

First, we will support collection and analysis of climate risk data. Then we will reinforce early warning systems, both at regional and national level, and support other crucial initiatives like Antonio Guterres’ Early Warning For All Initiative.

Third, we will support the development of multi and single country proposals to mobilize international climate finance, including from the private sector. To tackle the climate crisis we need a shift of trillions, not billions. And we cannot do that with public funding alone.

And fourth: even with the best planning, disasters may not always be avoidable. Therefore, the fourth pillar of the initiative will strengthen climate and disaster risk finance and insurance mechanisms to protect vulnerable populations against climate hazards.

You know, the hot topic this week is loss and damage. Some of the money announced today by the European Union and its member states will go to addressing loss and damage as well. There are pledges that have already been done in this respect by some of our member states and also those who are not part of the day’s initiatives.

Today the European Union will add 60 million euros to that from our common budget.

The EU will not stop there. The climate finance target for our main global budgetary program has been raised to 35%. And we intend to raise further investments for clean, secure and climate resilient infrastructure. The Great Green Wall, the EU African Union transboundary water management initiative, and strategic corridors to name a few. Member states present today have also many other ongoing initiatives. So you see that we have tools, funds mechanisms to deliver financial assistance now and to move it quickly.

Let me end by saying what I think we need to do to move forward at this COP in the next couple of days.

First, we need to be able to trust each other. I hope that the European Union has earned by now your trust. We are the biggest donor of climate finance. We have a highly ambitious NDC and we’re implementing it and we’re seriously considering all the proposals on the table this week from different parties.

But we need to realize that we live in 2022 and not in 1992. And we cannot have future funding based on ideas and economic realities of 30 years ago. We need to take into account economic situations of countries now. When we address their responsibilities and not of where those countries were 30 years ago. There are many countries that require support, and many more than can give it. And that’s a good thing. It shows how much economic development the world has seen in the past 30 years.

To tackle the climate crisis and all that goes with it such as loss and damage, we need a mosaic of solutions. And we will present some ideas today on how to take the talks forward in a more realistic way than some of the proposals we’ve seen floated so far. I keep saying that we are here to build bridges. I hope that we can build this bridge and find that from the other side the same effort has been made in the meantime.

My goal is to get finance going now, not in years’ time. And my goal is to make sure this finance is targeted to the most vulnerable, and not spread out evenly on all countries that based on the 1992 figures would be eligible.

We need to focus on the countries that are most vulnerable. We need to do this now. And we can do this now. If we come together on a compromise, I hope we can find.

Thank you very much.

Source: EU in Ethiopia