The next EU budget will mirror the political priorities for the Union for the next 7 years. This will be a great opportunity for the European Union to prove its leadership in the transition to a low-carbon economy and give a strong signal to private investors.
To ensure that EU climate and energy commitments will be correctly implemented through the next budget, E3G submitted responses to two public consultations in the areas of:
- Strategic Infrastructure
- Investment, Research & Innovation, SMEs and Single Market
E3G identifies two important issues that should be addressed in the post-2020 EU budget.
An efficient and coherent spending of EU funds
The EU currently allocates €4 billion every year in fossil fuel investments, the large majority of which goes to gas infrastructure. However, the EU commits with the G7 to phase out fossil fuels subsidies by 2025. E3G sees no case for EU budget funding for fossil fuel infrastructure post-2020. Instead, this money should be used to help close the large financing gap for the EU’s clean economy transition and thus help the EU achieve its 2030 policy targets.
A stronger focus on bridging the gap between the climate and innovation community
The EU currently allocated €80 billion over 7 years in R&I investments through Horizon2020, the 35% of which is reserved for climate-related targets. The High-Level Group on maximising impact of EU R&I Programmes recommended to double this fund. E3G calls the EU to double the spending on clean innovation in the next budget, in parallel with the increase on R&I investments.
