Select committee: International Development Committee
Conclusion 17
Second Report - Global Britain in demand: UK climate action and international development around COP26
Published 26 Oct 2021
Addressed to Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
International Development Committee Climate change, development and COP26 All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
Asked about unintended consequences of green energy projects, Lord Goldsmith, the Minister for the Pacific and the Environment at the FCDO and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), told us that the FCDO’s approach was “generally a pretty robust and holistic one”.36 He said: 28 Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (CDC0016) 29 IIED, Forty governments and leading institutions commit to support locall- led climate adaptation, 25 January 2021 30 IIED, Forty governments and leading institutions commit to support locally-led climate adaptation, 25 January 2021 31 Gov.uk, New Global Coalition launched to address impacts of Climate Change, 25 January 2021 32 Gov.uk, Adaptation Action Coalition: an overview, 5 August 2021 33 Gov.uk, Climate Adaptation Summit Talks: launching the Race to Resilience, 25 January 2021 34 Gov.uk, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland’s Adaptation Communication to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, pp.25–26, 12 December 2020 35 Q48 [Eileen Mairena Cunningham] 36 Q113 [Lord Zac Goldsmith] 12 Global Britain in demand: UK climate action and international development around COP26 I can say with absolute certainty that, if there was a sense that, by doing a particular thing to tackle one problem, we were going to be generating another problem, that would show up in the comprehensive process that FCDO pursues.37
From: International Development Committee, Second Report - Global Britain in demand: UK climate action and international development around COP26 (HC 99), 26 October 2021
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 14 January 2022 (deadline 26 December 2021).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government's response to the Committee's report is mostly 'Partially agree', with 'Agree' on two recommendations, while declining the Committee's 31 January 2022 deadline for a locally-led adaptation pathway.
- On locally-led adaptation, it says it "agree[s] that locally led adaptation is critical" but is "not able to agree" to submit a pathway by 31 January 2022, citing the need to work with others, in particular Egypt as incoming COP27 Presidency. It "will report on progress by 31 March".
- On climate finance access, it agrees and says it is working to update the International Climate Finance Strategy and "aim to publish this by April 2022". It is not "proposing a simplification of the criteria for LDCs and SIDS per se", but a streamlined accreditation approach.
- On fossil fuel exemptions, it partially agrees, stating the exemptions are for "a small number of situations" and are "necessary to make this policy work in the real world". BII is developing a carbon budget and "will share this information with the Committee in due course".
- On a Climate and Development Minister, it partially agrees, stating there is "already strong ministerial oversight for this policy area", with Lord Goldsmith holding responsibility for climate and environment.