Recommendation 84

Contributors told us, however, that the cuts to ODA reduce the scope for the UK to support vulnerable countries to address climate change alongside the impact of the covid-19 pandemic and high levels of public debt.175 We were also told that the aid cuts might damage the trust of climate-vulnerable countries.176 Cecília da Silva Bernardo told us that: Right now, somehow the UK’s leadership is lacking. […] For example, we did not hear from the UK a strong commitment on continued support and provision of funding to LDCs or to the most vulnerable. We also saw that there was a cut from 0.7% to 0.5% in development assistance from the UK. Those things that happened do not provide us with a good sense of confidence. I believe the UK is in a good position to change the way we are seeing it and really become the leader in this fight.177