The Prime Minister has told the House of Commons that the EU Council has made a series of important proposals on climate financing.

Gordon Brown was reporting back on the two-day European Council meeting he attended in Brussels last week where leaders discussed the build up to the Copenhagen climate conference, the economy and the Lisbon Treaty.

He said members had agreed to make three conditional offers at the climate change conference in Copenhagen next month.

The first was that the EU would pay its share of the total costs of climate financing (around €100 billion annually by 2020); secondly, that international public financial support required would be in the range of €22-50 billion a year by 2020; and finally that €5-7 billion would be needed to fast track action after an agreement is signed.

The EU offers are conditional on other countries agreeing to contribute their share and developing countries making substantial commitments on emission reductions.

The PM said:

“The European Union has already committed to cut our emissions by 30 per cent on 1990 levels by 2020 as part of the rights international agreement. Now, these financial offers yet again show the determination of the whole European Union to ensure an ambitious climate change deal in Copenhagen.”

The PM said the Council agreed that climate financing should “not undermine or jeopardize the fight against poverty and continued progress towards the Millennium Development Goals.”

The Council also supported the establishment of a high-level body under the UN to provide an overview of international sources of climate financing, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said.

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