COP30: EU set to double 'fairness' payments offer for climate transition – leak

EU countries are preparing to double a 2019 payment for those countries most affected to adapt their economies to climate change at the upcoming COP30, according to a Council document seen by Euronews, whilst many in the global south are calling for a tripling of the funding.

The offer will be one of the key negotiations at the November UN climate summit in Belém, Brazil, when world leaders will discuss the way forward to tackle climate change and likely formalise the Global Goal on Adaptation, a collective commitment under the Paris Agreement, where countries agreed to share the financial burden for adapting to the impacts of climate change.

In 2019, the EU and its member states contributed €23.2bn in climate finance to support developing countries in addressing climate change impacts and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, according to EU data. Even if the bloc meets its pledge to support countries affected by climate change, it's a far cry compared to the $25bn (€21bn) annually needed by the African continent for climate adaptation, said Rwanda’s Minister of Environment, Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamariya during the Africa Climate Summit early in September.

The fate of Pacific islands, such as Tuvalu, Kiribati the Marshall Islands and the Maldives is also in jeopardy. While Pacific Islands’ adaptation is largely about survival and potential relocation in response to rising seas, adaptation in much of the Global South centers on reducing vulnerability of livelihoods and infrastructure to a range of climate hazards.

The document states that EU leaders support tools to help weather a just transition to make up for lost jobs and disrupted communities due to the shift away from fossil fuels and high-carbon industries.

More than 170 countries have introduced national policies and laws on climate change adaptation to mitigate the rising risks of extreme events such as floods and droughts, according to a 2019 global analysis by the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

EU ambassadors will meet on Friday to continue talks on a common position to be taken at COP30 and discuss finance flows towards climate action and adaptation. Some of the policies touted by EU leaders include the adoption and expansion of effective domestic carbon pricing, addressing carbon leakage risks, and expanding the share of global emissions covered by carbon pricing.

While the EU hasn’t agreed on a 2035 climate target to present at COP30 — the so-called National Determination Contribution (NDC) — the Council document urges other countries to speed up national strategies in line with NDCs, including strategies, policies and actions such as investment plans and platforms to unlock finance.

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) parties were supposed to set their NDC for 2035 by 23 September.  According to the UNFCCC, as of September 2025, only 26 countries have submitted their updated NDCs for the 2025–2035 period. An additional 84 countries were expected to submit them by the September deadline, setting the stage for the upcoming COP30 summit in Belém, Brazil.