Making finance work for climate transition

The Paris Agreement requires all Parties to put forward their best efforts to achieve a transition to a sustainable and zero-carbon economy, thus contributing together with all the stakeholders directly to the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This transition requires major public and private funding efforts.

As has been advocated by many economists and key political figures from civil society, we need to encourage and support all projects that can unite Europe's strengths in the interests of workers, businesses and all Europeans. This is the objective of a finance-climate pact for high-quality jobs. The finance-climate pact aims to redirect the money that could bring about a new financial bubble towards the fight against climate change and the real economy. It must also receive new financing, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. The pact must provide a new roadmap for European leadership and should be accompanied by an integrated plan. Moreover, small to medium scale financing, can be difficult to access for bottom-up projects. The key is not only to provide finance, but also for existing financing mechanisms to be unambiguous and easy to access.

The purpose of this event will be to propose ways to guarantee the appropriate funding needed to achieve the transition to a zero-carbon economy and a sustainable Europe by 2050. Financing must be designed to foster a just transition and address adaptation policies. During the event, a new set of proposals formulated by the EESC will be discussed with different partner organisations and Civil Society Organisations with the aim to boost climate finance.