Source · Select Committees · International Development Committee
Recommendation 9
9
Accepted
Paragraph: 55
Adapting to climate change and building resilience is vital for poverty reduction.
Conclusion
Adapting to climate change and building resilience is vital for poverty reduction. Reducing the debt burden allows governments in low-and-middle-income countries to spend more on public health, education and social protection programmes. The UK Government must maintain its leadership on grant-based climate finance to help countries adapt to climate change without provoking and exacerbating debt crises, deploying finance in a timely manner that matches the urgency of the situation now.
Government Response Summary
The government highlighted its commitment to climate finance and adaptation, citing the Glasgow Climate Pact. They noted the UK's pledge of £11.6bn to support vulnerable populations and the tripling of adaptation funding. The UK's level of grant-based climate finance support from 2016 to end 2020 was 89%.
Paragraph Reference:
55
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The Glasgow Climate Pact included a call for a continued increase in the scale and effectiveness of climate finance from all sources globally, including grants and other highly concessional forms of finance. Since 2011, UK International Climate Finance (ICF) has supported 95 million people to cope with the effects of climate change, provided 58 million people with improved access to clean energy, reduced or avoided 68m tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions and directly mobilised over £5bn private finance for climate change purposes. The UK Government has pledged £11.6bn to support the most vulnerable who are experiencing the worst impacts of climate change and will triple its funding for adaptation from £500m in 2019 to £1.5bn in 2025. We have also committed to investing at least £3 billion of this ICF in development solutions that protect and restore nature. The UK’s level of grant-based climate finance support from 2016 to end 2020 was 89%.1[1] By comparison, OECD analysis of 2020 climate finance flows found that grants comprised just 26% of public climate finance.2[2] Grants typically support capacity building, feasibility studies, demonstration projects, technical assistance, and activities with low or no direct financial returns but high social returns. For example, the UK’s Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions (UK PACT) programme delivers impact through a combination of grant funding for longer term capacity-building projects and the rapid mobilisation of short-term expertise for skill- shares and secondment opportunities. Through its grants, UK PACT aims to improve the capacity and capability of key public, private and civil society institutions to reduce emissions and foster inclusive economic growth in partner countries.