COP26: Boris Johnson’s climate finance announcement ‘nowhere near enough’
Date: 1 November 2021
Campaigns: Climate
Reacting to Boris Johnson’s announcement of an extra £1bn a year of climate finance, Daniel Willis, climate campaigner at Global Justice Now, said:
Proper provision of climate finance is crucial for the success of COP26, but Boris Johnson’s pledge is nowhere near enough. And there remain huge unanswered questions as to whether this is genuinely additional or adequate climate finance.
To truly account for the UK’s historic greenhouse gas emissions, we should be providing $46 billion a year. [1] But, with the UK being responsible for 9.7% of historic emissions from countries that provide climate finance [2], $3.4 billion a year is not even an adequate share of the insufficient $100 billion target. As a bare minimum, $9.7 billion of the $100 billion target should come from the UK, which is just one sixth of what we spend on defence. [3]
“Raiding the existing aid budget and cutting off other vital lines of support for the global south is not good enough. And neither is piling them with more crippling debt. The government must spell out exactly where the money will come from and whether these are grants or loans.
Notes for editors
For more information on climate finance and the UK’s fair share, please see the Global Justice Now report Financing justice? UK climate finance and how to increase ambition at COP26: https://bit.ly/3hYycuJ
1. Estimate of UK’s fair share of climate finance from statement by leaders from the global south: https://powershiftafrica.org/cop-26-a-five-point-plan-for-solidarity-prosperity-and-fairness/
2. Data from Our World in Data based on the Global Carbon Project – https://ourworldindata.org/contributed-most-global-co2. Combined historic carbon emissions of 14 climate finance providing nations = 799.4 billion tonnes C02e. UK contribution 77.84 billion C02e. 77.84/799,4=0.097 or 9.7%.
3. House of Commons library estimates the UK 2021 defence budget as £41.8 billion or $57.2 billion. 57.2/9.7=5.9.
Photo: Simon Dawson/No 10 Downing Street (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
