France greatly exceeds its commitments for climate financing in developing countries in 2022 (20 september 2023)

At the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Ambition Summit in New York in September 2023, Ministers Bruno Le Maire, Catherine Colonna and Agnès Pannier-Runacher, and Minister of State Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, announced that France provided €7.6 billion in climate financing in 2022, including €2.6 billion for adaptation. This exceeds the target set by President Macron at the end of 2020 by around 25%.

Moreover, France worked to raise €1.2 billion of private finance in 2022, taking French climate financing for developing countries to €8.8 billion for the same year.

France, like the European Union, is thus doing more than its fair share in the effort among developed countries, which have pledged $100 billion a year.

As a reminder, at the end of 2020 President Macron announced France’s commitment to provide €6 billion in climate financing in developing countries every year from 2021 to 2025. A third of this financing is dedicated to adaptation. This target represents an increase compared to the commitment made at COP21 in 2015 to provide €5 billion in climate financing in 2020, including €1.5 billion for adaptation. The commitment was honoured from 2021, with €6.1 billion in climate financing for developing countries, including €2.2 billion for adaptation.

Bruno Le Maire, Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty, said: “These excellent figures demonstrate France’s commitment and steadfast approach as regards helping to combat climate change. At the same time, they also show that climate finance can’t rely on public funding alone to make a difference – including that provided by France, which is one of the world’s main contributors of climate finance. We must move up a level and, beyond the $100-billion target, mobilize all funding sources and in particular attract more private funding for developing countries’ climate strategies. In this respect, the road map resulting from the Paris Summit for a New Global Financing Pact must allow us collectively to be more effective and have greater impact.”

Catherine Colonna, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, said: “As I’ve just reiterated at the UN General Assembly’s High-Level Week in New York on Monday, we need electrifying solidarity and call on all countries to join the Agenda for People and the Planet and its momentum of combating poverty, and the ecological transition. “France is delivering in terms of solidarity and the climate emergency: in 2022 we even managed to exceed the commitment made, with €7.6 billion of climate financing, including €2.6 billion for adaptation.

Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Minister for the Energy Transition, said: “The global climate transition won’t happen without international solidarity. By pledging €7.6 billion in 2022, i.e. 25% more than planned, France is consistent with the ambition President Macron expressed at the Paris Summit for a Global Financing Pact. The goal of $100 billion is becoming tangible and attainable. I’d now like all countries to mobilize to take up the other challenge: that of mitigating and reducing fossil fuels.”

Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, Minister of State for Development, Francophonie and International Partnerships, attached to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, concludes: “To maintain trust in international solidarity, it’s crucial we stick to our commitments. €7.6 billion for climate action is a tangible result. We’re continuing to build partnerships together for a just energy transition and have already entered into ambitious partnerships with Senegal, South Africa and Indonesia to this end. We’re also working to protect forests as carbon and biodiversity reserves through the development of country packages for forests, nature and climate. We’re supporting countries and their populations through the French Development Agency as well as major multilateral funds, such as the Green Climate Fund.”