UK pledges $2 bn for climate action

livemint.com:

NEW DELHI : UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Sunday pledged $2 billion to the UN’s Green Climate Fund (GFC), a day after G20 leaders adopted a ‘green development pact’ to speed up measures to tackle the challenges of environment and climate change. “The UK is stepping up and delivering on our climate commitments, both by decarbonising our own economy and supporting the world’s most vulnerable to deal with the impact of climate change," the UK high commission quoted Sunak as saying.

“This is the kind of leadership that the world rightly expects from G20 countries. And this government will continue to lead by example in making the UK, and the world, more prosperous and secure." The UK has led international efforts to help developing countries tackle climate change, including by pledging to spend £11.6 billion ($14.4 billion) on international climate finance between 2021 and 2026.

To be sure, increased financing has been a long-standing demand by developing countries, who point to the historical role played by wealthy nations in creating climate change. The new pledge follows an announcement at the UN’s COP27 meeting in 2022 that the UK would triple its funding for climate adaptation, the high commission said in a press release.

According to climate experts, Saturday’s green development pact by the New Delhi G20 leaders summit gives a significant boost to the zero emission goals. “The collective pledge by G-20 countries to mobilise $5.9 trillion to implement clean energy technologies is a significant fillip to the net zero emission goals as it addresses the concern of developing world in the financial viability of Climate Change," said Rajeev Kashyap, VP & MD, Nextracker India, a solar energy solutions firm.