Intro

EU Member States provide financial assistance to developing countries for climate change mitigation, adaptation as well as capacity-building and technology transfer to support them in their activities to fight global warming. EU Member States are required to report on such financial and technology support provided. Transparency in climate finance is a key element in helping to build mutual trust and confidence between Parties to the UNFCCC, and in promoting the effective implementation of global climate action.

What the data are telling us

• In 2022, the EU and its Member States committed and provided EUR 28.5 billion to developing countries (including bilateral and multilateral support) from public sources [1].
• In addition, public interventions by the EU and its Member States mobilised a further EUR 12.05 billion of private finance in 2022.
• Between 2014 and 2022, EU support to developing countries from public souces increased by 96%.
• In 2022, over 54% of the funding for developing countries from public sources was dedicated to either climate adaptation or cross-cutting action (involving both climate change mitigation and adaptation initiatives) and close to half of the total funding was committed in the form of grants.

Information on climate finance is reported by EU Member States through various reporting regimes:

• From 2021 onwards, reporting under Article 19(3) of the Governance Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 and Article 6 and Annexes III, IV and V of its Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1208. The information collected and aggregated through this reporting process underpins the overall EU figure on international climate finance, which is endorsed every year by the Council [2].
• Since 1998: Reporting on Official Development Assistance (ODA) and other resource flows to developing countries by EU Member States that are members to the OECD under the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) [3]. These data are collected in the OECD Creditor Reporting System (CRS) database. For the purpose of assisting OECD members in their preparation of National Communications or National Reports to the Rio Conventions, in 1998 the OECD DAC introduced the so-called “Rio markers” to identify activities that mainstream the Conventions’ objectives, including climate change, into development co-operation. In their reporting, DAC members are requested to indicate for each development finance activity whether the activity targets the objectives of the Rio conventions on the basis of a three-value scoring system [4].
• Coming up: Reporting under the support-related provisions of the Enhanced Transparency Framework under the Paris Agreement [5], covering the information on financial, technology development and transfer and capacity building support provided and mobilised by developed countries. This information is to be reported from 2024 onwards in Biennial Transparency Reports, which are going to replace reporting through Biennial Reports to the UNFCCC.

^{[1] This figure includes EU 4.03 billion from the EU budget and the European Development Fund and EUR 2.52 billion from the European Investment Bank.
[2] Between 2013 and 2020, Member States were obliged to report on support provided to developing countries under Article 16 of the Monitoring Mechanism Regulation (MMR), following the format for reporting as agreed under the UNFCCC (Common Tabular Format (CTF) for Biennial Reports established by decision 19/CP.18 - Decision 19/CP.18 on a Common tabular format for “UNFCCC biennial reporting guidelines for developed country Parties” contained in FCCC/CP/2012/8/Add.3, p. 3.
[3] Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus and Romania are not part of the OECD.
[4] For more details about the Rio markers, see Short guide to the use of Rio markers | Capacity4dev (europa.eu)
[5] Decision 18/CMA.1 and Decision 5/CMA.3}