E3G

Investing in our future: a European budget for climate security

By Chris Littlecott

Stephen Hale and Stuart Singleton-White of Green Alliance have just published an excellent pamphlet on the topic of the EU budget review, which they launched in Brussels on 17th October.

Their report teases apart the political significance of the EU’s stated aims on energy and climate security. They rightly focus attention on the need for the EU to match its aspirations with how it really spends its money. They go on to underline the importance of the newly-launched EU budget review as an opportunity to shape future EU action, and make suggestions of priority areas for future spending.

I think that they’ve hit the nail on the head - this budget review is incredibly significant politically as well as in respect to future policy delivery. But will any changes result without a shift in the political context? Member states still dominate the EU budget process - perhaps it is time that the European Parliament pushed for greater citizen involvement to help shape the EU’s spending priorities? We’ll be doing some further thinking on this over the coming months.

Here’s some further details on the Green Alliance report:

Investing in our future: a European budget for climate security

The post war European Project has helped to bring peace and prosperity to increasing numbers of European citizens. Now in the 21st century climate change threatens that very peace and prosperity in Europe and across the world. Europe has a critical role to play in leading the global response to this threat. To do so a step change in commitment is needed. 

Future European Union expenditure is an essential element of Europe’s response. Additional public investment is required to tackle climate change and to secure the commitment of the emerging economies and the poorest countries for a global effort on the scale needed. The EU budget review is a critical opportunity to re-orient EU public investment and to show its citizens’ and the world that it means what it says.

This report sets out the essential elements of future spending at the EU level, with a total annual cost of €32 to €38 billion. With sufficient political will, this could largely be secured through reform of cohesion funds and spending on agricultural support and rural development. It would also be possible to raise comparable revenues by the auctioning of allowances in the next phase of the EU’s emission trading scheme, due to start in 2013. Europe’s leaders have clear political choices to make in relation to both their spending on climate change and the sources of these funds. These choices must be grasped. A radical rethink of EU public investment is an essential part of Europe’s global leadership on climate change. Only by meeting this test can the citizens and the EU and the world be confident that those leaders mean business.

Further details and a download version of the report are available on the Green Alliance website.