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 brushbys
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 £100million
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 $280m (around
£220m) 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
$1.2bn 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 £11.6bn of climate finance
from 2021/22 to 2025/26 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 110m people adapt to the effects of
climate change, and help avoid over 105m 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.
