EU Climate Leadership is Nowhere to be Found at COP31
For immediate release
November 13, 2026
Contact:
Valentina Stackl, Oil Change International (in Antalya) [email protected] / +1 734 276 6260
EU Climate Leadership is Nowhere to be Found at COP31
ANTALYA, Türkiye – As world leaders gather at COP31, Europe’s climate leadership is conspicuously absent. The leaders of major EU economies, including Germany, France, and Italy, have skipped the Leaders’ Summit, while European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen failed to mention fossil fuels in her address.
In recent years many EU countries followed through on their COP26 commitment to end their international fossil fuel finance, but Germany, Italy and Switzerland have repeatedly broken their promise with continued fossil fuel support. Meanwhile, the EU’s climate finance contributions are flatlining and Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Sweden, Finland and Austria have thus far failed to put forward new post 2025 climate finance pledges. This leaves significant uncertainty for future climate finance flows. The EU has also yet to present a fossil fuel phaseout roadmap. At the same time, as the EU has shifted its dependency on fossil fuels imports from Russia to the United States, it is considering to weaken its methane regulations under pressure from Trump. .
Laurie van der Burg, Global Public Finance Lead at Oil Change International, said:
“Europe’s climate leadership is nowhere to be found. Its biggest leaders aren’t even showing up, and those who are here can’t bring themselves to name fossil fuels, the biggest driver of the climate crisis. Meanwhile, European governments continue to bankroll fossil fuels overseas, drag their feet on climate finance, and risk weakening their own climate rules under pressure from Trump.
“The EU says it wants to reduce its dependence on the United States and build trusted partnerships around the world, but trust isn’t built through speeches and empty promises. It’s built by delivering on commitments, phasing out fossil fuels, and providing the public finance needed for a just transition. By ending fossil fuel subsidies, making polluters pay and supporting changes to unfair financial rules the EU can unlock the public money needed to meet the needs of EU citizens and deliver the climate finance owed to the Global South.”