Giving Compass' Take:

• An analysis of European Union climate financing has raised questions about how money is allocated between countries and how those allocations are counted. 

• Climate projects are inherently intertwined with other policies and goals, how should these multipurpose projects be counted? What countries should be receiving the most help? 

• Learn why the European Union should be worried about climate migration into the region. 

An analysis of European Union climate financing released April 18th has raised questions about where the funds are going, as it emerged that Turkey was by far the biggest individual recipient.

The report, commissioned by the ACT Alliance EU, a church-based advocacy group, measured the combined funds from the European Commission, European Development Fund, and European Investment Bank that go toward tackling the causes and effects of climate change.

It found that Turkey was by far the biggest recipient of climate financing from the EU institutions, receiving an average of 667 million euros ($823.7 million) per year between 2013 and 2016; followed by Ukraine, which received an annual average of 301 million euros ($371.5 million).

By contrast, least-developed countries received just 19 percent of the EU institutions’ climate assistance during the period covered. The only LDC among the top 10 recipients was Bangladesh, which received an annual average of 74 million euros ($91.3 million), largely through loans, which advocates also questioned.

In Turkey, ACT Alliance EU cited a metro expansion in Istanbul, which is receiving a 250 million euro ($310 million) loan from the EIB. The bank assesses the entirety of the loan as contributing to the fight against climate change, but Mattias Söderberg, senior advocacy adviser at ACT Alliance EU, questioned that decision.

“Railway is of course a good way to move people from cars to electrified transport, but it’s clearly not only beneficial from a climate change perspective, so it’s not fair to count it as 100 percent climate finance,” he said.

The authors found that most of the EU’s climate finance to the poorest countries comes from the European Commission and the EDF. Between 2013 and 2016, 17 percent of commission climate financing and 70 percent of the EDF’s total went to LDCs.

However, just 8 percent of the EIB contribution was distributed to LDCs, a figure that has barely increased since 2013 and remains below average for other multilateral development banks, the authors said. The bank also favored loans in almost all cases, in contrast to the commission and EDF, whose climate financing since 2010 was made up of 99 percent grants.

Read the full article about EU climate financing by Vince Chadwick at Devex International Development.