EU climate investment falls behind China and the US

(EurActiv, 27 Nov 2019) The European Union continues to lag behind in terms of ‘green’ investment compared with China and the US, the EIB warned on Tuesday (26 November). The lender said that financing should increase by 50% to achieve a net-zero emissions economy by 2050.

Europe is starting to deploy more and more tools to fight climate change and to achieve a more sustainable economy.

European Commission President-elect Ursula von der Leyen has promised a ‘European Green Deal’ in her first 100 days in office, while a large majority of member states are already in favour of slashing their greenhouse gas emissions to a net-zero level by 2050.

But Europe has a lot of progress to make if it wants to walk the talk. “A tremendous effort is required” to respond to climate change adequately, the European Investment Bank (EIB) said in its 2019-2020 investment report.

In its stocktake, the EU lender warns that Europe is falling behind other actors. “After a lost decade of weak investment, we need to tackle the slowdown now if we are to respond to the historic challenges we are facing,” said Vice-President Andrew McDowell.

In order to ensure that the EU helps keep average global temperature increase below 2C, or even 1.5C, the bloc “needs to agree and enact a comprehensive climate change strategy, with accelerated investment at its core”, the bank said.

According to the report, the EU invested last year in climate change mitigation around 1.2% of its GDP (€158 billion), compared with 1.3% by the US and far behind the 3.3% of China.

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EurActiv, 27 Nov 2019: EU climate investment falls behind China and the US