Ahead of COP 30,
where host country Brazil's Presidency has
set a strategic goal to transition from “negotiation to
implementation”, the Committee is launching a call for
evidence in a major new inquiry on UK climate
policy and finance.
Climate change is a global problem that requires a
global response. The world is now experiencing the
increasingly severe impacts of a rapidly heating
climate with intense wildfires, severe droughts, and
heavy rainfall leading to destructive
floods more frequently and over a wider
range.
The 2015 Paris Agreement represented a significant
moment of international coordination to reduce emissions and to
adapt to climate change. But the UN recently announced that
global action has failed to limit global heating to
the 1.5 degrees agreed there.
In 2022, the IPCC warned that “any further delay in concerted
global action will miss a brief and rapidly closing window to
secure a liveable future”.
The UK became the first country in the world to make
a legally-binding national commitment to cut greenhouse gas
emissions in The Climate Change Act
2008. In 2019 the UK was the first major
economy to enshrine its commitment to Net Zero by 2050 in
law.
At COP 29 in Baku last year, the
agreed target
for climate finance flowing to
developing countries was increased from $100
billion to at least $300 billion a year by
2035, with an aspiration for that to hit $1.3
trillion per year over the same period, in recognition
of the scale of the challenge. And in 2022, the latest
data available, developed countries delivered around $116
billion – over that target - to developing countries
for climate action.
But the global political consensus on climate
change, the financial sector's commitment to
action on climate and climate diplomacy have
all been impacted by tensions and transformations
in the global order.
The UK Government has stated “there is no global
stability without climate stability,” that the UK “must play
its part by resetting at home and reconnecting
abroad,” and has placed an emphasis on re-establishing
the UK “as a climate leader on the global stage.” It
committed to meet the previous Government's
pledge of providing £11.6
billion in international climate
finance between 2021 and 2026 - but
beyond March 2026 the approach is unclear.
Through this inquiry, the Committee intends to investigate how
the Government can best demonstrate international
leadership on climate policy.
The Committee is now welcoming evidence from
interested stakeholders on any of the following questions by
January 7:
UK Government leadership
- How important is domestic delivery on
climate action and climate governance, to the UK's climate
leadership on the global stage?
- How adequate is cooperation between the UK
Government and devolved administrations in
implementing, developing and presenting the UK's
international climate policy?
- How can the UK most effectively engage with the UN
climate architecture in developing, establishing and
implementing international climate policy?
- How do the UK's 2030 and 2035 Nationally Determined
Contributions (NDCs) impact domestic climate action,
and how does it
compare globally on NDCs?
Non-state actor involvement and leadership
- What impact does the increasing involvement
globally of non-state actors - such as local
governments, businesses, investors, NGOs and
communities – in leading on climate action
have?
- What role do UK non-state
actors have in leading on international
climate action and how cant he UK Government
best support them?
Climate finance
- How
successful has international climate finance,
and the UK Government's contribution to it, been in supporting
developing countries to respond to the challenges of climate
change? What improvements could be made?
- What approach should the
Government take to the UK's climate finance
arrangements post-March 2026? How much difference does
political uncertainty make to climate finance?
- What is the balance to be struck between
support for mitigation and for adaptation, and
which finance instruments work best for each?
