This policy paper identifies the main shortcomings of the current proposals regarding the next long term EU budget for the period 2021-2027 (Multiannual Financial Framework) and makes recommendations to ensure that the EU budget becomes fully climate-friendly.
In May, the European Commission proposed to set a goal for climate-related spending of 25% of the total Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2021-2027. This means that around €320 billion of the EU budget should contribute to climate objectives over the period 2021-2027, representing an increase of €114 billion compared to the current 2014-2020 framework with its 20% climate action target.
Specific climate spending targets have been included in the relevant sectoral legislation, called ‘climate mainstreaming’. In addition to this quantitative approach, the European Commission aims to establish a concept of ‘climate proofing’ of investments that would assess the risk of built infrastructure towards environment and the climate, and that would measure the climate impact of certain EU funded projects.
However, our assessment shows that both “climate mainstreaming” and “climate proofing” as proposed by the European Commission suffer from various shortcomings that must be overcome.
Assessment EU budget climate mainstreaming CAN Europe September 2018
