During the conclusion of G20 Leaders’ Summit in India on Sunday, the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak announced that the United Kingdom will be providing $2bn to the Green Climate Fund which is the biggest single funding commitment the UK has made to help the world tackle climate change.
From the office of the Prime Minister on Sunday stated that UK continues to show global climate leadership, having cut emissions faster than any other G7 country with the uplift that makes a significant contribution towards the UK’s pledge to spend £11.6bn on international climate finance, cementing global climate leadership.
The contribute which is £1.62 billion ($2 billion) to the Green Climate Fund (GCF), established by 194 countries following the Copenhagen Accord at COP15. The GCF being the largest global fund dedicated to supporting developing countries to reduce global emissions and helping communities adapt to the effects of climate change.
The pledge represents a 12.7% increase on the UK’s previous contribution to the GCF for the period of 2020-2023, which was itself a doubling of our initial funding to establish the fund in 2014.
At the G20 Summit, Sunak called on leaders to work together ahead of the COP28 Summit this December to both reduce their countries’ own carbon emissions and support vulnerable economies to deal with the consequences of climate change.
While addressing the G20 Leaders, UK Prime Minister said, “The United Kingdom is stepping up, delivering on our climate commitments, both by decarbonising our own economy and supporting world’s most vulnerable to deal with the impact of climate change.
Adding that this is the kind of leadership that the world rightly expects from G20 countries. “And this government will continue to lead by example in making the UK, and the world, more prosperous and secure”, Rishi Sunak said.
Meanwhile, the UK has led international efforts to help developing countries tackle climate change, including by pledging to spend £11.6 billion on international climate finance between 2021 and 2026.
This announcement marks a major contribution towards commitment and follows the Prime Minister’s announcement at COP27 that the UK would triple its funding for climate adaptation.
Since 2011 UK climate aid spending has helped over 95 million people cope with the effects of climate change and reduced or avoided over 68 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.
This goes hand in hand with the UK’s domestic leadership transitioning to clean forms of energy. The UK has cut emissions faster than any other G7 country, with low carbon sources now accounting for more than half of our electricity.
We saw renewables generate a record 47.84% of UK electricity in the first three months of 2023 and output from wind, solar and hydro reached a record high last year. Last year, UK saw the biggest increase ever in the installation of offshore wind capacity, with the UK home to the four largest working wind farms in the world.
Alongside this uplift in the UK’s contribution to the GCF, which is expected to again make us one of the largest donors to the fund, the UK Government will continue to stress the importance of the GCF delivering results with even greater speed, demonstrating value for money in all of its activities.
This includes asking the GCF to further improve its delivery for those countries most vulnerable to climate change, particularly Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States.