Source · Select Committees · Environmental Audit Committee
Recommendation 33
33
Accepted
Paragraph: 118
Mobilisation of promised funding critical as past nature and climate finance remains unfulfilled.
Conclusion
It is encouraging to see the commitments made at COP26, COP27 and COP28 on deforestation which were accompanied by major funding commitments. Past commitments to mobilise finance for climate adaptation have not yet been fulfilled and commitments to restore nature remain relatively underfunded. In order to meet the commitments of the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use and the goals of the Global Biodiversity Framework by 2023, mobilising the promised funding is critical.
Government Response Summary
The government reiterates its commitment to invest at least £1.5 billion in UK International Climate Finance for forest protection, outlining progress towards this target and detailing new funding announcements from COP28. This demonstrates its efforts to mobilise promised funding.
Paragraph Reference:
118
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government remains steadfast in its commitment to invest at least £1.5 billion UK International Climate Finance to protect and restore forests while delivering sustainable development over the ICF3 period (April 2021 – March 2026). We are on track to deliver on this commitment. Over financial years 2021–22 and 2022–23 (the first two years of ICF3), we have spent around £345m on forest programming (ref. Table 1 below) and continue to work to develop a robust pipeline of programmes and investments to deliver the remainder of our pledge by the end of ICF3. This also forms our contribution to the Global Forest Finance Pledge (GFFP), a commitment made by donors at COP26 to deliver $12 billion (£8.75 billion) to support forest protection, restoration, and sustainable management over 2021 – 2025. At COP28, we announced £576 million new forests programming, of which £466m will deliver support beyond ICF3. This included a £35m uplift in UK support for the Amazon Fund, and up to £500m for the second phase of our flagship Investments in Forests and Sustainable Land Use (IFSLU) programme over the next ten years, which we expect to mobilise £2 billion in private investment, directly benefit half a million people – mainly smallholders and poor rural communities most vulnerable to the effects of climate change – and protect and restore forests across an area of 10 million hectares. The UK remains committed to transparency across our ODA support, the UK, together with GFFP partners, publishes a summary of progress made against delivering our collective $12 billion pledge annually in the Global Forest Finance Pledge Progress Report. Please find in Figure 1 below detail of UK ICF forest spend over financial years 2021–22 and 2022–23. Note – this list is non-exhaustive and includes only programmes that disbursed monies over these two years.