A new Carbon Brief analysis has shown that the UK has “added” around £450m to its climate-aid spending in developing countries by changing how it defines “climate finance”.
In a statement to parliament, the government was said to have laid out a new plan to meet its goal of providing £11.6bn of international climate finance (ICF) between 2021/22 and 2025/26.
According to report, this relies on expanding the activities that the UK classifies as ICF to include payments into development banks and more money for the private sector.
And when compared to pre-revision data obtained by Carbon Brief via freedom of information (FOI) request earlier this year, these changes appear to “add” hundreds of millions of pounds to the UK’s climate aid over the past two years.
The changes would mean ICF spending has “risen” since 2020. This contrasts strongly with Carbon Brief analysis published last week which showed how, prior to these changes, spending had fallen for two years in a row.
The development is said to have come after months of concern that the UK would not be able to meet its ICF goal. Cuts to foreign aid and the diversion of funds to house refugees had rendered the ICF target a “mathematical impossibility”, according to former minister Zac Goldsmith.
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Recall that the government committed in 2019 to spending £11.6bn on ICF between 2021/22 and 2025/26. It said this would amount to “doubling” its ICF spending from its previous five-year target of £5.8bn.
Speaking to parliament on 17 October, Andrew Mitchell, reeled out “how we expect to meet our target”, publishing figures for the total spend in 2021/22 and 2022/23, plus estimated ranges for the following three years.
According to reports, the figure he gave for 2021/22 was £1.65bn. This is £181.6m more than the £1.47bn figure provided to Carbon Brief by FOI earlier this year. (That approximate figure has also been cited by Mitchell himself, who said in July the UK had spent “over £1.4bn” on ICF in 2021/22.)
The ICF figure given for 2022/23 was £1.63bn, which is £267.4m more than the £1.36bn figure stated in Carbon Brief’s FOI results. That number was based on “provisional” data provided by the government, as well as an estimate for the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs ICF contribution. It was backed up by a leaked civil service document reported by the Guardian.
In total, this amounts to an additional £449.1m over these two years.
Story was adapted from Carbon Brief.
