Civil society organisations demand Sunak keeps promise on climate finance
Melanie May | 7 July 2023 | News
More than 90 UK civil society organisations from environment, international development, education, trade union, disability inclusion, trade, humanitarian, business, and faith groups have written to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak today to demand that he keeps his promise on climate finance.
The organisations include WWF-UK, ActionAid UK, Tearfund, World Vision UK, Friends of the Earth, Oxfam GB and many more.
Catherine Pettengell, Executive Director of Climate Action Network UK (CAN-UK) the organisation that coordinated the letter, said:
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“Today’s letter from more than 90 civil society organisations in the UK demonstrates the strength and breadth of support for UK climate finance. This government must not turn its back on countries and communities least responsible for the climate crisis but suffering its worst impacts. True leadership means taking responsibility for the UK’s historical emissions and the wealth that has generated and giving back fairly, to secure a better future for everyone.”
In response to recent claims that the UK government has “effectively abandoned” its commitment to provide £11.6bn climate finance between April 2021 and March 2026, civil society groups are calling for the government to fulfil its commitment and urgently demonstrate how it will be met.
The letter says:
“We are writing to urge you to keep your promise to communities on the frontline of the climate crisis to provide £11.6bn in climate finance over five years between April 2021 and March 2026, and to urgently demonstrate how this commitment will be met.
“Climate finance is a vital component of the Paris Agreement, without which limiting the rise in global temperature to 1.5°C will not be possible; without which the devastation of climate change will cost countless lives and livelihoods around the world for those least responsible for causing the climate crisis and cause irreversible damage to the ecosystems on which they depend; and without which meaningful international cooperation on climate action would collapse.
“The world cannot afford such tragedies from short-sighted decisions.”
It adds:
“Climate finance is not a handout, but a debt we owe to countries and communities that have been made vulnerable to climate change, while the UK has benefited from burning fossil fuels.”
Pettengell added:
“Given recent reports that the FCDO would find it a “huge challenge” to meet the commitment within current budgets, we need more than empty promises from the Prime Minister, we need a concrete and transparent plan as to how the commitment will be met in full and on time, and in a way that does not come at a cost to other important ODA priorities.”
Charity response to Sunak
Katie White, Executive Director of Advocacy and Campaigns at WWF-UK, said:
“Failure to invest in climate action now is the definition of a false economy. The future health of our planet should not come down to horse-trading between Government departments but should be the driving purpose of all parts of government.
“This further undermines the UK’s reputation as a strong leader on climate and nature, in the same week as global temperature records were broken and the Government’s own climate watchdog found that commitments are going backwards and ambition is plummeting.
“We urgently need our leaders to recognise nature is in crisis and to deliver on the nature and climate promises made to bring our world back to life.”
Tearfund’s Head of Advocacy, Paul Cook, said:
“The outrageous claim that climate finance money should be spent elsewhere on humanitarian priorities is misleading. Climate finance should be new and additional to international aid specifically to prevent this from happening in a context where extreme weather-related disasters are on the rise. Cutting funding for reducing emissions and adapting to live with climate impacts is dangerously short-sighted and undermines global efforts to save lives.
“When wealthy and high carbon emitting nations fail to step up to their climate responsibilities, it hurts us all but people in poverty most. Rishi Sunak’s government still has time to keep the UK’s long-standing promise to low-income countries and communities of £11.6bn by 2026 in climate funding.
“Failing to keep this promise would be a miserly betrayal that will cost lives and livelihoods. It would be a backwards step for international cooperation at a time when working together is more crucial than ever.”
NCVO campaign
Elsewhere in the sector, yesterday (6 July) NCVO launched #FuellingPositiveChange: a climate campaign urging charities to divest from fossil fuels by moving investments away from businesses involved in their extraction, production, transportation, refining and marketing. More on this here.
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.