There is growing recognition that the post-2013 EU budget needs to engage more with strategic issues critical for Europe in the coming decade, including combating climate change. A new IEEP paper urges MEPs to champion the issue, using their new decision-making powers to ensure that climate change is at the heart of the future budgetary negotiations.

The paper is the first in a series being produced as part of a policy dialogue platform on the post-2013 EU budget and associated EU funding instruments such as Cohesion Policy. Subsequent papers and workshops will focus on EU value added and innovative financial instruments for climate change (in September and October 2011, respectively).