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Today’s proposal by the European Commission to cap support for biofuels made from food crops at 5% of the demand for energy in transport sends a welcome but long overdue message to markets

Government leaders, ministers, and other representatives from countries participating in the COP 23 climate summit in Bonn spoke at the start of the "high-level segment."Reacting to remarks by German chancellor Angela Merkel, Jan Kowalzig, Oxfam Germany’s climate change policy lead said:“Angela Merkel referred to Germany’s 2020 emission reduction target, but failed to explain how her next government plans to avoid the looming embarrassment of missing that target by a wide margin. This would have been a powerful way to show she’s dedicated to meeting the Paris…

All countries must use the COP20 Summit in Lima to resolve the impasse over “climate finance,” and make success possible at the critical Paris talks in December 2015, says international agency Oxfam.

The G7 have made a stuttering start on climate but have largely neglected the plight of people living in poverty, said Oxfam at the close of the annual leaders’ summit in Germany today.

There has been an increase in international climate finance in the fight against climate change, according to a new OECD report, which Oxfam is encouraged by. 

In response to the launch by France and Kenya of an international taxation taskforce at COP28 to push for new levies to raise further money for climate action, Nafkote Dabi, Oxfam International’s Climate Change Policy Lead, said: “While the will to move the international tax agenda towards raising critical new funds for countries most affected by the climate crisis is welcome, the proposals being put on the table fall far short of what is needed. Taxing excess profits and the obscene wealth in the hands of the top 1% should be at the core of this initiative. That’s where the money is —and this is what is needed to help stop the runaway inequality that is fueling climate breakdown."

Responding to German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s climate finance remarks made in Berlin today, Oxfam’s Climate Change Policy Advisor Jan Kowalzig said:“It’s refreshing to see Chancellor Merkel understanding how climate finance is key to securing success at the Paris COP in December. More rich countries must now follow her call to table a credible plan that ramps up climate support for developing nations, boosting the current US$35bn a year to an annual US$100bn by 2020.""But let’s be clear here - meeting the US$100bn target by 2020 would just be fulfilling a five year old…

Oxfam said it is vital that governments return to the negotiating table before the new agreement takes effect from 2020 to strengthen pledges of emissions cuts and agree to new finance levels. 

As more than 160 countries come together to sign the Paris Climate Change Agreement, taking a critical step towards its implementation, Oxfam calls on governments to continue to confront climate change collectively and turn their commitments into action.

European Governments are increasingly relying on bioenergy as a cheap way to meet targets for renewable energy. Bioenergy represented 62% of EU’s renewable energy use in 2012. But new evidence on the real climate impacts and other environmental and social impacts of bioenergy has made its use increasingly controversial.