The UK has been warned that cutting climate financing for poorer countries would be an \u201cact of self-harm\u201d that would hinder its global influence and damage food security.<\/p>\n
According to UK newspaper The Guardian<\/a>, ministers plan to cut climate finance for the \u201cdeveloping world\u201d from \u00a311.6 billion (around \u20ac13.37 billion) over the past five years to \u00a39 billion (\u20ac10.37 billion) in the next five. When factoring in inflation, this would mean a proposed cut of around 40 per cent in spending power since 2021.<\/p>\n At the UN COP29 Summit in 2024, almost 200 nations \u2013 including the UK \u2013 agreed to triple finance to developing countries to $300 billion (around \u20ac254.5 billion) annually by 2035. <\/p>\n A year later, at COP30 in Bel\u00e9m, developing countries called for more support for adaptation to help protect people from climate change by building infrastructure such as flood defences and drought-resistant water systems. However, parties only agreed to call for efforts to at least triple adaptation finance by 2035 \u2013 reiterating a previous commitment without further progress.<\/p>\n Is the UK about to cut its climate financing?<\/p>\n A government spokesperson tells Euronews Green that it is \u201cmodernising\u201d its approach to international climate financing to focus on \u201cgreater impact\u201d \u2013 making sure that every pound delivers for the UK taxpayer and the people it supports. <\/p>\n \u201cThe UK remains committed to providing International Climate Finance, playing our part alongside other developed countries and climate finance providers to deliver our international commitments,\u201d they add. \u201cThe UK is on track to deliver \u00a311.6 billion in International Climate Finance by the end of this financial year.\u201d<\/p>\n The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, which has historically never commented on leaks, did not confirm whether the alleged cuts are going ahead, or respond to criticism that has already ensued.<\/p>\n \u2018Damaging trust\u2019 in the UK<\/p>\n Gareth Redmond-King of the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU<\/a>) describes such a move as an \u201cact of self-harm\u201d for the UK \u2013 if it goes ahead.<\/p>\n \u201cWe import two-fifths of our food from overseas, much of which is grown in countries being hit hardest by extremes of heat and flood,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cThe UK\u2019s climate finance helps farmers in these countries to adapt their farming to maintain both their livelihoods and our food security.\u201d<\/p>\n Redmond-King argues that going back on climate commitments would also damage trust in the UK\u2019s position at a time when it has made real progress in cutting emissions and striving towards net zero targets. <\/p>\n \u201cWith China potentially offering forms of climate finance to poorer nations which need it, the longer-term risk is to the UK\u2019s relative power and influence around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n A \u2018national security\u2019 risk<\/p>\n The report comes just weeks after the UK\u2019s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) published a 14-page document warning that the collapse of global ecosystems is a direct threat to the country\u2019s national security<\/a> and prosperity.<\/p>\n With alleged involvement from MI5 and MI6, the report found that the world is also experiencing the impacts of biodiversity loss such as crop failures, intensified natural disasters and infectious disease outbreaks. <\/p>\n However, without \u201cmajor intervention\u201d, the report says these threats will increase alongside environmental degradation.<\/p>\n Officials highlighted the UK\u2019s reliance on global markets for its food and fertiliser, with around 40 per cent of its food \u2013 such as vegetables, sugar and soy for animal farming \u2013 coming from overseas.<\/p>\n \u201cBiodiversity loss, alongside climate change, is amongst the biggest medium- to long-term threats to domestic food production \u2013 through depleted soils, loss of pollinators, drought and flood conditions,\u201d the report states.<\/p>\n \u201cEcosystem collapse would place the UK\u2019s agriculture system under great stress, leaving it struggling to pivot to the new approaches and technologies that would be required to maintain food supply.\u201d<\/p>\n