To this end the European Union is backing up its political commitment with concrete actions to cooperate more closely with major economies to implement the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change and environmentally-friendly practices more broadly.

New EU strategic partnerships on clean energy and climate change 

The European Union has launched new strategic partnerships for the implementation of the Paris Agreement, a programme co-financed by the EU's Partnership Instrument (€20 million) and the German International Climate Initiative (€5m) to scale up European climate policy collaborations with other major economies.

Partnerships will be undertaken to facilitate the exchange of climate policy options, to advance bilateral cooperation on investment and to contribute to improving public awareness. They will cover small projects at the national level, study visits, workshops and business forums.

These new partnerships are a reflection that cooperation between major economies is necessary to achieve the objectives that have been agreed. Climate change requires a decisive and confident response from all major economies, as they represent a large share of global population, economic output and greenhouse gas emissions.

Supporting green growth in India

The 14^th EU – India Summit reinforced the strategic importance of India as a key partner of the European Union, notably in the fields of climate action, environment, climate change and urbanisation. The commitments established under the Paris Agreement, as well as the EU-India Clean Energy and Climate Partnership, were reaffirmed. Cooperation regarding smart and sustainable urbanisation was also boosted.

In this context, the EU has adopted the action 'Business Support to the EU-India Policy Dialogues' (€3.8m) to further develop the EU - India partnership by promoting sustainable energy and urbanisation, as well as environmentally friendly practices, with hands-on, technical solutions from EU businesses, notably small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

This cooperation will help position the EU as a partner of choice for India in the areas of environment, energy, climate and urbanisation and contribute to an increased and diversified presence of EU companies in the Indian market.

Background 

These actions are part of recently adopted phase II of the Annual Action Programme 2017 (AAP 2017) of the Partnership Instrument, which include four new projects totalling more than €23m and bringing the total EU contribution for the AAP 2017 to more than €111 million.

The EU's Partnership Instrument helps to enhance the EU's strategic political partnerships by fostering relationships and supporting policy priorities, in line with the EU Global Strategy.

More information 

Partnership Instrument AAP 2017

EU-India partnership

EU-India Joint Statement on Climate Energy and Climate Change