UK to cut climate aid to developing countries by 14% to £2bn a year in ‘refocus’ | Climate aid

The UK’s climate aid to developing countries will be cut by around 14%, to around £2bn a year, under government plans, a move which critics say would put national security and lives abroad at risk.

The move followed bitter disputes with the Treasury, which wanted deeper cuts due to spending pressure resulting from the war in Iran.

Overall, the UK’s aid budget has been cut to 0.3% of gross national income, with health, education and humanitarian aid programs all being axed.

Climate spending will amount to “around” £6 billion over three years, the government said ahead of Thursday’s announcement. But experts told the Guardian this would likely mean less than £6 billion, rather than more. Under the previous five-year deal, the UK provided £11.6 billion over five years, or around £2.3 billion per year.

The previous £3 billion to fund nature and forestry projects has also been scrapped.

The climate finance pledge abandons the previous practice of setting five-year budgets, to allow for longer-term projects of the type that experts deemed more effective.

The Guardian understands that the Treasury argued at key meetings last weekend that the overall aid budget should be cut even more than the cuts announced last year and only now fully implemented, by 0.5% to 0.3% of gross national income.

The Treasury argued that more money was needed for defense and to support the economy because of the war in Iran.

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “At a time when conflict rages in many parts of the world, we will maintain and protect our support for the people of Ukraine, Sudan, Palestine and Lebanon, and combine this with diplomatic action to prevent and resolve the conflicts that cause so much devastation and humanitarian suffering.

“With less investment, we must refocus to ensure they have the greatest impact. Responding to desperate humanitarian crises, preventing conflict and upholding international law are not only essential parts of British values ​​and our shared humanity. They are also essential to British interests, because in an increasingly interconnected world, we know that instability abroad affects us at home.”

Several Labor MPs have expressed concerns about the budget cuts. Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global Health Security, Dr Beccy Cooper, said: “The Labor Party is, and always has been, a party of internationalism. When we withdraw from our shared commitments, we lose both our strength and our position in the world. We are a soft power superpower and we should be proud of that.”

“Current spending plans put Britain and the world at risk. When health systems in poorer countries are not supported to become resilient, diseases spread faster and further. Protecting public health at home means investing in strong health systems everywhere.”

Gareth Thomas, former international development minister, said: “In an already dangerous world, cutting aid risks alienating key allies and will make it harder to improve children’s health and education in Commonwealth countries. We risk creating more opportunities for regimes that do not share our values. Our security depends not only on a stronger military, but also on building soft power so our soldiers are not needed.”

Zac Goldsmith, former foreign secretary under the Conservatives, said: “This government’s national security review was a stark warning that global biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse are direct and systemic threats to the UK’s security and prosperity, and yet nature has borne the brunt of the budget cuts. This is incredibly short-sighted. No wonder the government has been so keen to suppress the report.”

Campaigners told the Guardian that cutting the budget for climate and nature aid was a short-sighted decision, particularly given a recent warning from intelligence officials that the collapse of ecosystems around the world posed a serious threat to the UK’s national security.

Jonathan Hall, chief executive of Conservation International UK, said: “We simply cannot hope to end the climate crisis without rainforests. For 15 years, international climate finance in the UK has always had a clear funding target to stop deforestation. Now abandoning any commitment to dedicating a significant part of our climate aid to nature and forests goes against the government’s own security experts, the latest scientific evidence and UK polling which shows it is the most popular form of climate spending among the British public.