Turning the EU Budget into an Instrument to Support the Fight against Climate Change

Abstract:

The report, which has been written by researchers at the Institute for European Environmental Policy, assesses to what extent the EU budget has contributed to achieving the EU’s climate change objectives and sets out arguments on how and why the EU budget might support the fight against climate change in the future.

The analysis shows that there has been little focus on these objectives so far and that this is also true for the current 2007-2013 Financial Perspective. The funding of efforts that aim to improve the environment has been undermined by spending on, for example, road building and other projects, which have in fact increased greenhouse gas emissions.

By employing the three principles “European added value”, “best policy instrument” and “sound financial management”, the report concludes that there are arguments in favour of using the common budget to support the fight against climate change. However, major shifts in spending is required if the EU budget is to become a successful instrument in this ambition.