The EU’s (vague) climate aid stance: Want more money? Get more donors.

BRUSSELS — Ahead of next month’s United Nations climate summit, the European Union is playing its cards close to its chest.

The bloc’s finance ministers on Tuesday approved the 27 countries’ joint negotiating position regarding the central issue of the upcoming summit — funding for climate action — but did not reveal how much cash EU governments would be willing to put up.

That’s a deliberate negotiating tactic, two European diplomats and one EU official confirmed, as the bloc — much like other developed countries — wants to make the precise amount of funding contingent on expanding the group of donors.

“I don’t expect a number to be announced before COP. This is a negotiation after all,” said the EU official, granted anonymity to discuss diplomatic matters. “And the final number will also depend on the make-up of the donor base and the overall structure” of the funding target.

At the conference, known as COP29, the world’s countries will have to hash out a new long-term financial goal to help developing nations pay for measures to cut planet-warming emissions and prepare for climate disasters. The current target of $100 billion annually is funded entirely by countries classified as developed under the U.N. framework.

With funding needs far outstripping available resources, developing countries are asking for more money, with some nations proposing an annual target of more than $1 trillion. Industrialized countries, on the other hand, say it’s time for others — specifically high-emitting, emerging economies like China — to chip in.

The EU’s statement “stresses the need for expanding the group of contributors as a prerequisite for an ambitious [climate finance target], reflecting the evolution of respective capabilities and high greenhouse gas emissions since the early 1990s, and their dynamic nature.” It affirms, though, that developed countries should “continue to take the lead.”

The statement also acknowledges that some developing countries already provide climate finance outside the long-term target framework — but suggests everyone do a better job of reporting the precise amount provided.

EU climate and environment ministers will sign off on the bloc’s full COP29 position at a meeting in Luxembourg on Monday.