France warned on Monday that it could block the disbursement of climate funds to India under a recent trade deal with the EU if New Delhi does not improve its strategy in the fight against global warming.
The French Minister of Ecological Transition, Monique Barbut, said AFP The European Union should take a stronger stance against climate inaction and favor a “more transactional” approach in negotiations with emerging economies.
As an example, he gave India, which signed an important trade agreement with Brussels in January.
Under the agreement, the EU will pay 500 million euros ($574 million) to support India's green transition, he said.
“I am not in favor of such funding until India submits a Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) in line with its commitments and takes a slightly different approach towards the European Union in the climate negotiations,” he said.
NDCs are national plans to reduce planet-warming emissions, which signatories to the 2015 Paris climate agreement must submit every five years.
More than 60 countries, including major recipients of climate finance such as India, Egypt and the Philippines, have yet to produce their latest version, having missed the United Nations deadline last year.
India is the world's third largest emitter of greenhouse gases, after China and the United States.
More generally, Barbut said Brussels needed to take a tougher stance in climate negotiations, with a “more strategic and also more transactional approach.”
“This clearly means: 'We only pay if you act,'” he said in an interview, adding that he had raised his concerns in a message to the European Commission.
“Europe should only provide financial support to countries that make credible commitments under the Paris Agreement.”
EU climate ministers are due to discuss the 27-nation bloc's climate diplomacy during a meeting in Brussels on Tuesday.
