Ireland is on track to meet its €225 million climate finance target – what can other European countries learn?

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Ireland is on track to meet its commitment to provide €225 million a year in climate finance to poorer countries by 2025.

Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic) Michael Martin shared positive news that Ireland's Climate and Environmental Finance Report 2022 has been published.

This is a rare punctuality for developed countries, which have long disappointed developing countries in this regard. They failed to meet their promise to provide $100 billion (€91.8 billion) in climate finance each year until 2025 by 2020, but whether this is currently being achieved remains debatable.

These richer countries are once again under fire for missing a key deadline for the next deal. loss damage fund – A part of climate finance that effectively compensates countries affected by climate change.

Developed countries failed to elect representatives to the new Fund board by the January 31 agreement deadline. This risks delaying funding to the world's most vulnerable communities.

IrelandGovernments appear to recognize the urgency of complying with climate finance commitments.

“Last year hottest on record” says Martin. “Wildfires, droughts and flash floods that have affected millions of people around the world have served as a reminder of the cruel reality of climate change. Countries that did not do the bare minimum to cause this crisis and local communities are the ones hardest hit by the effects.”

How is Ireland tackling climate change?

new in ireland report The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) announced that it will provide developing countries with €120.8 million in climate finance in 2022, an increase of 21% from 2021.

Sean Fleming, Minister of State for International Development and Diaspora, said Ireland's climate funding has more than doubled since 2015 and will increase further in the coming years.

“This report demonstrates our commitment to reaching those furthest behind first and directing support to those most at risk of being left behind as a result of the climate crisis.”

The government's official development assistance program, Ireland Aid, lists climate change as one of its four priority areas. Funding for the climate finance pot comes primarily from his DFA (which is responsible for 65%), as well as the Treasury, the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications, and (to a lesser extent) the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. .

80% of the funding will go towards adaptation in developing countries, helping them cope with the inevitable and potentially catastrophic effects of climate change.

At COP28, the Tánaiste Martin announced new funding of 50 million euros, of which 6 million euros would be provided specifically to Small Island Developing States (SIDS); (SIDS) are “exposed to a struggle for survival.” He also expressed confidence that Ireland would meet its annual commitment of €225 million by 2025.

The country is taking a new look at its adaptation needs.Last month, Ireland published its first climate change assessment. reportThis shows in stunning detail how the island is becoming more vulnerable to extreme weather events, sea level rise and coastal erosion.

Is Ireland's annual contribution of €225 million justified?

Trocaire, the official overseas development agency of the Catholic Church in Ireland, welcomed the new report but said Ireland still fell short of its fair share. climate finance.

“It's very positive that the numbers are trending upwards,” Siobhan Curran, the humanitarian organization's policy and advocacy director, told Euronews Green. “[But] We seriously believe that Ireland, like other rich countries, needs a major boost in climate finance to pay down its environmental debt. ”

according to analysis According to the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) think tank, Ireland's actual fair share of the $100 billion total is about €500 million. It belongs to a relatively poor-performing group of European Annex II countries, which also includes Spain and Portugal. ODI's 2023 calculations put Norway at the top and Greece at the bottom.

“We are calling on Ireland to significantly increase climate finance based on need,” Mr Curran said. Trocaire works in many countries affected by climate change, including Malawi, where more than 500,000 people were evacuated by Cyclone Freddy last year.

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While Ireland still has a long way to go in terms of volume, Mr Curran praised the country's focus on: adaptation – Where many other European countries are funding mitigation too disproportionately. It would also be more effective to finance climate change in the form of grants rather than loans, which risks pushing poor countries further into debt.

Developing countries missed deadlines for loss and damage funds

Although climate finance permeated discussions at COP28, the summit made no significant progress on this front other than the creation of a new loss and damage fund.

Nevertheless, a new report from the Senior Expert Group on Climate Finance, released at the start of the summit, highlights how intertwined climate action and financial support are.

“As the first global inventory shows, the world is way off track towards the Paris goals, largely due to insufficient investment in key sectors, particularly EMDC.” [emerging markets and developing countries]” concluded the group, chaired by leading economists Vera Songwe and Nicholas Stern.

in dubaigovernments called on the UN climate change division to convene a meeting of the fund's new board “as soon as all nominations of voting members have been submitted, but no later than January 31, 2024.” .

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However, as the deadline passed this week, the group of developed countries had not chosen a single delegate, while developing countries had chosen 13 of the 14 delegates, Climate Home News reported.

Fiji Climate Change Ambassador Daniel Rand said: “There is a concern that we are losing a bit of time, given that there is quite a lot to discuss.”

The UK-based news site reported that there is a disagreement between two major blocs, the “umbrella group” that includes the EU and the US. Japan And Britain may be slowing things down.

The blocs are reportedly clashing over the number of seats each should win, with the EU receiving $447 million (€106 million) to the Umbrella Group's $115 million (€106 million). They argue that they should be given more seats because they have pledged significantly more money (€411) to the fund. .

Climate finance is becoming a top topic at next year's COP29 Azerbaijan.

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This comes as countries need to agree on climate finance targets for 2025 and beyond, replacing the previous $100 billion (€91.8 billion) commitment. The new Collective Quantitative Goals (NCQG), as its name suggests, emphasizes the urgent need to scale up funding, Trocaire's Curran added.

“You will see that the need for climate finance is much greater than what is being paid,” she says.

Ireland, like other wealthy countries, “needs to consider new sources of funding, including options such as aviation taxes, shipping taxes, taxes on fossil fuel companies and wealth taxes.”