Today, the European Parliament’s Environment Committee supported increased funding for nature in the next EU budget (MFF), rejecting the Commission’s proposal, which risked sidelining biodiversity.
Adopting its opinion on the MFF Performance Regulation, the group endorsed a 10% target specifically for biodiversity, on top of the originally proposed 35% target for climate and nature.
The proposed Performance Regulation, a new horizontal framework for climate and environmental spending and performance reporting, sets a broad 35% spending target for climate and environment. This approach puts biodiversity in competition with other green projects that provide more immediate profits, potentially leading to nature being deprioritised in budget decisions.
“MEPs have corrected what the Commission got wrong. It is critical to invest in nature at home to make Europe more climate-resilient, as recent heatwaves across Europe have showcased. But such measures can only work if funding is clearly dedicated to them,” said Carl Richter, EU Budget and Public Finance Policy Officer at WWF EU.
The Environment Committee also improved the methodology for defining what counts as climate and environmental spending by excluding investments in activities that cannot be considered environmentally beneficial.
“The Commission’s proposed rules for counting climate spending are nonsensical,” added Carl Richter. “Presenting airport expansions or investments in new roads as climate spending is simply wrong. MEPs in the Environment Committee have drawn a red line, making clear that these kinds of projects do not contribute to the 35% climate and environment spending target, and must not be counted towards it.”
The Environment Committee’s opinion will inform negotiations in the Budget and Budgetary Control Committees, which are leading the process. Parliament is expected to adopt its final position by the end of the year, followed by negotiations with the Council.
