PRESS RELEASE : UK confirms help for developing countries to tackle climate change and build greener future [November 2024]

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 14 November 2024.

UK delivers more support for vulnerable developing countries at the forefront of the climate crisis.

• greater support for countries at forefront of climate and nature emergency
• UK announces new partnerships to help tackle illegal deforestation and support indigenous people
• part of UK’s commitment restoring its leadership in tackling climate change

The Foreign Secretary was at COP29 in Baku (12 November) to push for global action to tackle the climate crisis and preserve the natural world.

While at COP29, the Foreign Secretary held bilats and brush-bys with senior figures and leaders from countries including Colombia, Kuwait and the Democratic Republic of Congo. He also co-hosted a side event with the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley and led another on advancing forest tenure rights for Indigenous Peoples and local communities as guardians of forests and nature.

At COP29, he committed to a new initiative supporting forest tenure rights for indigenous and local communities across the Amazon Basin, who play a vital role in protecting forest areas. £9.1 million has also been made available to local scientists working to protect the Congo Basin, home to the world’s largest tropical peatlands to help protect vital natural CO2 storage areas.

The Foreign Secretary underscored the UK’s commitment to halting and reversing deforestation, to protect areas which play a key role in absorbing CO2 emissions. This includes announcing partnerships aimed at improving forest management and a new 10-year investment to reduce illegal logging. The programme will build on long-running UK initiatives to improve the governance of forests, support the trade of sustainable forest products and crackdown on illegal ones.

Public finance alone is not going to finance the global transition, and the mobilisation of private capital plays an important role to tackling the challenge. This is why £100 million of funding will also be given for British International Investment’s (BII) new Mobilisation Facility, which will drive up to £500 million of private capital into investments that support other countries in their transition towards net zero.

The Foreign Secretary also announced a guarantee of $280 million (around £220 million) to the new IFCAP initiative, which the UK is a founding partner of together with the Asian Development Bank and the other financing partners. The UK’s guarantee contribution will unlock $1.2 billion of additional climate finance, at no upfront cost to the UK.

The Foreign Secretary said:

The climate and nature crisis is the defining challenge of our times, which is why we are working with other countries to tackle the issue at its root. Britain is back as a leader on the climate crisis because this is how we motivate global action to deliver security and clean growth at home, as well as protect our planet for future generations.

That is why we are doubling down on our support to protect and restore forests, and the communities that depend upon them, around the world. We are also boosting funding to help countries most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

The last government’s commitment to £11.6 billion of climate finance from 2021/2022 to 2025/2026 will continue to be honoured. This includes at least £3 billion on nature, from which £1.5 billion will be dedicated to protecting and restoring forests.

Between April 2011 to March 2024 UK International Climate Finance has directly supported over 110 million people adapt to the effects of climate change, and help avoid over 105 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.

The announcements build on our ambitious pledge to build a Global Clean Power Alliance. This will see Britain working with partners around the world to accelerate country transitions to affordable and clean energy and help secure a liveable plant for future generations.

Background

• the Foreign Secretary confirmed the UK will meet its commitment to the current Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities Forest Tenure Pledge (IPLC). This is £163 million between 2021 to 2025
• the UK is giving a further £10 million to the Global Environment Facility’s Special Climate Change Fund to provide adaptation finance to Small Island Developing States
• the UK will provide £5.3 million to the Pacific Catastrophe Risk Insurance (PCRIC) to make sure more Pacific countries have the insurance they need in place before catastrophic weather events