The European Union unveiled its negotiating stance for the COP29 climate talks next month, while leaving unanswered the key question of how it will boost funding for poorer countries in their fight against global warming.

The United Nations’ summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, has one clear aim: turning billions of dollars in climate finance into trillions while helping countries embark on the climate transition and deal with increasingly extreme weather. Yet many EU countries, grappling with increasingly severe budget deficits, are trying to pressure other countries like China to share the burden.

“We are leading the game,” said Agnes Pannier-Runacher, France’s climate minister, on Europe’s efforts on the financial component. “We cannot be alone around the table trying to fulfil the expectations of most countries across the world.”

EU countries agreed that expanding the donor base of countries is a “prerequisite” for an ambitious new post-2025 climate finance goal, according to conclusions from the bloc’s council. Such a stance reflects “the evolution of respective economic capabilities and increasing shares of global GHG emissions since the early 1990s,” it said.

The tight financial situation sets the stage for tough talks over money next month. In Europe, budgets are being squeezed. In the US, there’s uncertainty over the outcome of the Nov 5 presidential election, which takes place just a few days before COP29. Developed countries hit an agreed US$100 billion per year goal two years late, and now they will be expected to cough up even more.

“Ministers agreed to the bare minimum for a constructive EU position on climate finance for COP29,” said Linda Kalcher, executive director at Strategic Perspectives, a European think tank. “Countries in the global south will expect more concreteness on the multiple layers and actual figures for the finance goal from the EU; otherwise, it will not be able to play its traditional role as a bridge-builder for success.”

France is among nations that won’t have much money to spare for climate finance beyond its borders. Its credit rating outlook was cut to negative by Fitch Ratings last week, a day after the government presented its 2025 budget. The agency said it expects a “steep rise” in government debt over the next few years.

Germany, the EU’s largest economy, saw its contribution to green projects overseas fall last year to €5.7 billion , less than the €6 billion Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised the country would pay annually from 2025. It stems from a 12% cut in the development ministry’s budget amid broader economic struggles.

The EU will make its financial contributions for last year available before the start of COP29, which runs from Nov 11-22. During talks on Monday, environment ministers largely focused on the role of nuclear energy and what emphasis to place on the bloc’s plan to cut emissions by 90% by 2040, which is set to be formally put forward next year.

“It’s probably the most difficult negotiation since Paris,” Ireland’s environment minister, Eamon Ryan, said of the COP29 talks, comparing them to the landmark 2015 climate accord. “We have to land a substantial agreement and it’s not certain.”

  - Bloomberg