Prime Minister announces new measures to tackle effects and causes of climate change as she attends One Planet Summit in Paris

 

The Prime Minister will attend the One Planet Summit in Paris today where she will announce a raft of new measures to tackle both the effects and causes of climate change.

 

The UK will provide a £140m boost to poorer communities around the world which are disproportionately affected by climate change whether through deforestation or vulnerability to natural disasters and climate extremes. This will include an additional £30 million through DFID’s Building Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Extremes and Disasters (BRACED) programme. 

 

This funding will help two million more of the world’s poorest people to cope with climate shocks, bringing the total to 7 million people supported with irrigation for better harvests, support in planting more resilient crops, improved forecasting and help to develop insurance schemes. And by helping to build resilience to extreme weather we will reduce the need for communities to call on emergency humanitarian support when disaster strikes, reducing dependence on aid.

The Prime Minister will also announce £15 million of additional support for reconstruction on the island of Dominica in the Caribbean, one of the regions that is most affected by extreme weather associated with climate change. This money will support reconstruction of the island’s water system which was destroyed by Hurricane Maria. UK funding will help rebuild the system to make it better able to withstand future extreme weather events. 

 

To help other individual countries and territories in the Caribbean become more resilient the UK will give £8 million of additional funding for activities including better crisis and response operations on the islands; training and improvements to communications systems; casualty management training; and mapping of high risk areas.  

 

Poor communities are also disproportionately affected by climate change through deforestation, with one billion people around the world reliant on forests for their livelihoods. That is why today the Prime Minister will commit a further £87 million through DFID’s Forest Governance, Markets and Climate (FGMC) Programme. This money will help local communities who depend on forests to accelerate efforts in the fight against illegal logging and support trade in legal timber.

 

In her remarks at the Summit the PM will underline how the UK is leading an international effort to meet the commitments made under the Paris Agreement. She is expected to set out how the UK and Canada-led Powering Past Coal Alliance is driving the international community and big business to phase out the use of unabated coal. 

 

Since being launched at a UN climate change conference last month in Bonn nearly 30 countries and regions have signed up and today will see a number of additional partners join the alliance including Sweden, California and large businesses such as EDF and Unilever. 

And the Prime Minister will demonstrate the UK’s commitment to putting clean growth at the heart of our Industrial Strategy by announcing that the UK will host a global Zero Emission Vehicle Summit next autumn, bringing together Ministers, industry leaders and sector representatives from around the world to further the development of the low emission and electric car market. The Summit will cement the UK’s position as a world leader in the low emission and electric vehicle industry and build on the Government’s manifesto commitment for almost all cars and vans to be zero emission by 2050. 

 

Prime Minister Theresa May said: 

 

“Tackling climate change and mitigating its effects for the world’s poorest are among the most critical challenges that we face. That is why I am joining other world leaders in Paris today for the One Planet Summit and committing to stand firmly with those on the front line of extreme weather and rising sea levels.

 

“And by redoubling our efforts to phase out coal, as well as build on our world leading electric car production, we are showing we can cut emissions in a way that supports economic growth.”