In the coming months, the European Parliament, the European Commission, and the heads of state and government in the European Council are expected to reach an agreement on whether or not fossil fuels will be excluded from Cohesion Policy funding, 2021-2027.

Cohesion Policy funding aims to reduce territorial disparities across EU’s regions, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe.

While the European Parliament voted in March last year for the exclusion of all fossil fuels from future Cohesion Policy funding, Member States, and to some extent the European Commission, are pushing for exemptions, particularly to finance gas infrastructure.

Trilogue negotiations scheduled to take place in the coming weeks and months will decide whether to include fossil fuels in the policy funding.

Against this backdrop, ICLEI, alongside WWF, Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe, CEE Bankwatch Network, and a collection of other NGOs and civil society groups, have launched an open letter to the European Council, European Parliament, and the European Commission, calling on them to exclude fossil fuel support from Cohesion Policy funding.

For more information and to read the letter, click here.