Greenpeace Calls On EU to Close Research Fund Supporting Coal Companies

Greenpeace environmental group on Friday called on the European Commission to disband its Research Fund for Coal and Steel (RFCS), which financially supports major energy companies and thus undermines set climate change targets.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Greenpeace said that the RFCS invested millions of dollars in European energy giants, despite the fact that 78-89 percent of remaining coal reserves should be left undeveloped to avoid further stimulating global warming.

"The funding – some of which may be used to find or extract new coal reserves – comes despite recent research suggesting 78-89% of the EU's existing known coal reserves need to remain untapped as part of global efforts to avoid warming beyond 2 degrees C [35.6 °F] – a stated aim of the UK and EU," Greenpeace said in a statement on its website.

The environmental group added that the RFSC has allocated some 144 million euros ($163 million) to several European energy giants since 2010, such as Germany's E.ON and RWE.

The United Nations will discuss the issue of global warming at the Climate Change Conference in Paris in November-December. The main goal of the conference is to sign a new international agreement to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.