Climate Change

Climate spending from EU’s 2014-2020 budget was far lower than reported

Court of Auditors report climate action eu budget

Photo: Tumisu

Published

June 2, 2022

Country

Comments

comments icon

0

Share

Published:

June 2, 2022

Country:

Comments:

comments icon

0

Share

The European Union has not reached its target of spending at least 20% of its 2014-2020 budget on climate action, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) said in a report.

The European Commission has reported that the EU met the 20% climate spending target by spending EUR 216 billion on climate action.

However, the ECA found that the entire sum was not relevant to climate action and that the amount was lower – EUR 144 billion, equivalent to a 13% share. The auditors also warned of the risk that planned or committed amounts may not be spent, saying it could further lower report climate spending.

Climate spending was the most overstated in agriculture

The main areas of EU climate spending are agriculture, infrastructure, and cohesion. According to the report, climate spending was the most overstated in agriculture, by almost EUR 60 billion. The commission reported that 26% of EU agricultural funding was climate-relevant, about half of the EU’s total climate spending.

But auditors said greenhouse gas emissions from farming in the EU have not decreased since 2010, the report reads.

The auditors also pointed to reliability issues in the commission’s reporting for the 2021-2027 period, when the EU’s new climate spending target will rise to 30%.

Elvinger: Addressing climate change is a key priority for the EU

“Addressing climate change is a key priority for the EU, which has set itself challenging climate and energy objectives,” said Joëlle Elvinger, the ECA member who led the audit.

The court revealed that not all the reported climate-related spending under the EU budget was actually relevant to climate action, she added.

According to the report, the auditors prepared several recommendations to overcome climate spending issues in the 2014-2020 EU budget.

Comments (0)

Be the first one to comment on this article.

Enter Your Comment
Please wait... Please fill in the required fields. There seems to be an error, please refresh the page and try again. Your comment has been sent.

Related Articles

European Commission energy affordability decarbonization

New European Commission weighing energy affordability versus decarbonization goals

28 November 2024 - The European Union wants to maintain the rapid pace of decarbonization while enabling affordable energy prices

COP29 decisions ambitious but insufficient to curb global warming

COP29 decisions ambitious but insufficient to curb global warming

25 November 2024 - The COP29 summit resulted in a global pledge of USD 300 billion per year for poorer and most vulnerable countries and a global carbon market deal

eu green bonds report

EU on track to become world’s largest issuer of green bonds

25 November 2024 - The European Commission has published NGEU Green Bonds Allocation and Impact report 2024

montenegro france afd loan spajic vukovic

Montenegro signs EUR 50 million loan agreement with France’s AFD

20 November 2024 - AFD will support Montenegro's reforms in waste management, renewable energy, sustainable forestry, and climate action