EU to offer poor countries 'billions' for climate change

(BERLIN) - The EU is to offer "one to three billion euros" in aid to developing countries over the next three years so they can fight the effects of climate change, the Financial Times Deutschland reported Sunday.

The funding is to be agreed at a European Union summit in Brussels set for Thursday and Friday, which will also coincide with the world climate conference in Copenhagen that opens on Monday.

The draft text obtained by AFP says that "the Copenhagen agreement should include provisions on immediate action after Copenhagen starting in 2010 and acknowledges that this requires scaled up financial support."

"The EU calls on developed countries to announce their contributions to such support. The EU is ready to contribute with fast start funding of at least X billion euros for the years 2010 to 2012," the text said.

The German daily quoted a diplomatic source as saying that the EU would in fact propose "one to three billion euros."

Money to help developing countries develop in a less polluting way and to help them adapt to the potentially disastrous effects of climate change is a key issue at the Copenhagen summit.

The summit's goal is to deliver an accord that will ratchet up efforts against climate change, driven by uncontrolled emissions of heat-trapping carbon gases from fossil fuels.

An outline accord in Copenhagen would be fleshed out in negotiations next year and take effect from 2013, when current pledges under the Kyoto Protocol expire.

The draft agreement said that a legally binding agreement should be finalised "within six months after the Copenhagen conference."

Copenhagen climate conference: key EU objectives

United Nations Climate Change Conference Copenhagen 2009