Twenty organisations including trade bodies, environmental non-governmental organisation (EMGOs) and think-tanks have signed a letter drafted by the European Association of European Research Centres (EUREC) asking the European Commission (EC) to earmark 35 percent of the budget of Framework Programme nine (FP9) to climate-related work.
According to the letter, signed by CEE Bankwatch Network, Change Partnership, Climate Action Network Europe, EnergyCities, Energy Materials Industrial Research Initiative (EMIRI), European Alliance to Save Energy, European Biomass Association (AEBIOM), European Climate Foundation, European Federation for Transport and Environment (T&E), European Heat Pump Association (EHPA), European Geothermal Energy Council (EGEC), European Association for the Promotion of Cogeneration (COGEN Europe), European Renewable Energies Federation (EREF), European Solar Thermal Electricity Association (ESTELA), Home Appliance Europe (APPLIA), RESCOOP.EU, Ocean Energy Europe, Solar Heat Europe, Third Generation Environmentalism (E3G) and Wind Europe, such an earmark exists in Horizon 2020.
However, the EC points out in the key findings of its interim evaluation of Horizon 2020 that “the targets for expenditure on sustainable development and climate action have not yet been met” but that the Commission expects that they will be achieved by the end of the Programme “through decisive action in the remaining Work Programme 2018-2020”.
Referring to the “impetus” created by the December 2015 Paris Agreement, the letter says that, “climate action must be hardwired into the design of FP9. 35% should very much be considered a minimum.”
The letter also makes a point about Mission Innovation (MI), the pact between 23 countries to double public clean energy R&D spending 2015-2020: “35% earmarking has helped the European Commission comply with the entry requirement for Mission Innovation. […] An earmarking in FP9 will make it easier for the European Commission to comply with a future MI target or similar initiatives”.
