- Half EU nations wouldn’t be able to meet basic climate targets
- Thinktank calls for climate transformation fund to rival US
According to Bloomberg article published on April 28, 2023, the European Union’s proposed overhaul of debt rules leaves a majority of member states without sufficient firepower to finance the climate transition, according to a new report.
Only Sweden, Ireland, Denmark and Latvia would have enough fiscal space to meet climate commitments required to keep global warming to below 1.5 degrees under proposals put forward by the European Commission this week, according to a study by the New Economics Foundation.
While others could meet less ambitious climate goals, 13 nations, including France, Italy Spain, Poland and the Netherlands, would not be able to invest enough to achieve the EU’s own green goals, the report said. It comes as the bloc tries to compete with the US and China on clean technologies.
“The EU has been hamstrung,” said Sebastian Mang, senior policy and advocacy officer at the New Economics Foundation, which called for the creation of an EU climate transformation fund. “The European Commission should be taking a leaf out of America’s book, and allow more borrowing for climate action.”
That’s something for EU finance ministers to contemplate as they meet outside of Stockholm on Friday.
