The UK government has announced that it will dedicate £160 million to climate support for developing countries, at the UN Climate Ambitions Summit in New York. The UK will stand as a key ally with developing countries in their efforts to cut emissions.
The £160 million funding will support developing countries to speed up the development and deployment of new green technologies, which will reduce emissions and drive down costs.
The new funding was announced by Energy Minister Graham Stuart at the UN Climate Ambitions Summit in New York, highlighting the UK’s leadership in tackling emissions and working to achieve net zero.
The funding package will support energy-intensive industries in developing and emerging economies to cut their emissions, with backing for measures ranging from deploying clean hydrogen-based fuels for steel production to the creation of biomass-powered refrigeration.
Energy Minister Graham Stuart says: ‘The UK has cut its emissions by more than any other major economy since 1990 and, following COP26, will continue to spearhead international efforts to limit global warming and reach net zero. It is essential that developing countries are able to future-proof their industries too – and we will stand with them every step of the way in their industrial transformation.’
He adds: ‘The funding is part of the UK’s international efforts to help developing countries tackle climate change, including by pledging to spend £11.6 billion on international climate finance between 2021 to 2022 and 2025 to 2026.’
The announcement follows the Prime Minister’s pledge of £1.62 billion towards the Global Climate Fund, at the G20 in India. That commitment is the UK’s biggest single financial contribution to helping the world’s most vulnerable people adapt to and mitigate the impact of climate change.
The funding will be spread across 4 global programmes:
• £100 million for the Mitigation Action Facility – working with the German government, this fund aims to support developing countries to reduce emissions by funding projects particularly focused on sectors including energy, industry and transport
• £55 million for the Clean Energy Innovation Facility – this new funding will extend the Clean Energy Innovation Facility programme from 2024 to 2029, which provides grants to accelerate the development of innovative clean energy technologies in developing countries in areas such as industrial decarbonisation, and smart energy
• £5.7 million for the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) Partnership – to support developing countries with technical assistance to implement their NDC: namely, their share of global emissions reductions to reduce global warming under the Paris Agreement
• £750,000 for the Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance – further funding for the Global Innovation Lab which supports green projects in developing countries, with this £750k ‘seed funding’ aiming to leverage further private investment. This new funding will focus on supporting projects to reduce emissions in Latin America & the Caribbean and protect forests
