The Foreign Secretary has announced today that UK International Climate Finance (ICF) will be just £6bn over the next three years – a reduction on the £11.6bn spent over the last five years – and a move in the wrong direction with communities experiencing compounding crises.
This announcement comes in the context of far-reaching cuts to Official Development Assistance (ODA) that have seen UK aid slashed to the lowest level for 25 years and putting hundreds of thousands of lives at risk, despite compounding global crises and greater needs than ever.
While the UK government has kept its prioritisation of climate and nature, it is a grim reality that this comes at a direct cost to other lifesaving and poverty reduction priorities, with ICF still reliant on the ODA budget despite evidence that tens of billions of pounds could be raised every year for climate action at home and overseas by fairly taxing the largest polluters and wealthiest in our society.
Without countries like the UK paying their fair share of climate finance, we will not collectively limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C, deliver a just transition with good jobs and no one left behind, adapt to climate change, address loss and damage caused by climate change impacts, and halt and reverse biodiversity loss.
This is about ensuring better lives for everyone in the UK and around the world – and the finance needs to reflect that.
Here’s what we know so far about the £6bn for ICF4:
- A three-year commitment, not the usual five years.
- ICF has gone down, not up, for the first time – ICF used to double every five years to keep pace with the crisis – on that basis, ICF4 should have been £23.2bn over five years.
- Retains the important commitment to balance finance between adaptation and mitigation.
- The majority of ICF4 is expected to be grant-based finance.
- ICF accounting/definitions is expected to remain the same as after the last accounting changes.
- The role of other types of finance is acknowledged but not included in ICF – therefore does not further water down the definition of ICF.
- No mention of loss and damage, but this is expected to be included in ICF4 spending – but still lacks the recognition needed.
- Nature finance is no-longer ringfenced – but nature remains one of four priorities for ICF4 spending.
- No new and additional finance raised from polluter pays taxes – all ICF coming from twice-cut ODA.
- Today’s announcements of both ODA and ICF cuts have been framed as part of a new modern and innovative approach to development, with more focus on partnership than ODA – but we are yet to see that translated into UK support for low- and middle-income countries demands for reform of debt, tax, finance, and trade rules and institutions.
Catherine Pettengell, Executive Director of Climate Action Network UK (CAN-UK), said:
“Portraying massive cuts with devastating impacts for millions of the most marginalised people around the world as an innovative and modern approach to development is disingenuous.
“The government promised the UK public in its manifesto to be a climate leader and create a world free from poverty on a liveable planet – but today’s announcements leave those promises entirely unfilled.
“When tens of billions of pounds can be raised every year by fairly taxing the largest polluters and wealthiest in our society, these cuts can only be viewed as unacceptable. The government needs an urgent rethink to put better lives for everyone in the UK and around the world front and centre.”
Beth John, Climate Justice Advisor at Oxfam GB, said:
“The UK cannot claim it remains an international climate leader while announcing cuts – rather than a much-needed increase – to climate finance.
“As climate disasters intensify and families lose their homes, crops and livelihoods, scaling back this vital support falls painfully short of the reality faced by people on the frontlines. Whilst the increased focus on fragile contexts is welcome, without properly addressing financing gaps in these areas, cycles of instability will only continue.
“With development budgets being slashed around the world and UK ODA already at a 25‑year low, this announcement marks a step back from the Government’s own commitments. If the Government wants a modern approach to development, it should ensure that the biggest polluters pay their fair share to address the climate crisis they have disproportionately caused.”
Gareth Redmond-King, Head of International Programme at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), said:
“It is clear that climate finance has, to some extent, been protected as a priority within the Official Development Assistance budget – it is now a larger proportion of a shrinking overall pot. However, cutting that ODA budget at a time of such intense global upheaval goes against the warnings from the government’s own national security advisers and food experts, who all warn of the growing threats to our security and stability from the climate crisis.
“We import two fifths of our food from overseas, and worsening climate change impacts hitting farmers at home and abroad are leading to shortages and higher prices on our supermarket shelves. Net zero is the only solution we have to halting climate change, and even at 1.3°C of heating now, those impacts are becoming more deadly and costly. Supporting the poorest nations’ efforts to cut emissions and adapt to climate change is also an investment in UK national security.”
Catherine Weller, Global Policy Director at Fauna & Flora, said:
“The UK government has confirmed it is reducing its international climate finance (ICF) spending and that it has ditched the previous commitment to spending a third of this funding on nature. This is a short-sighted move at a time when the nature loss and climate crises are escalating dramatically, and will only lead to greater consequences in an already uncertain future.
“A nature-depleted world is a more turbulent world with higher disaster risk, greater poverty, deeper climate impacts, less food and water security and a weakened economy. The UK has a strong record in helping to protect vulnerable habitats and communities – and reducing overseas aid doesn’t just impact developing countries, it has a knock-on impact for everyone in the UK. The world needs leadership on climate and nature now more than ever.”
Amadou Barry, West Africa Director, Practical Action, said:
“The latest climate finance commitment maintains a substantial level of support, but it clearly marks a slowdown in ambition compared to previous trajectories. At a time when climate risks are intensifying across Africa, this raises serious questions about whether funding is keeping pace with the scale of need.
“Across the region, climate finance supports practical solutions, helping farmers adapt to changing rainfall, improving water access, and expanding clean energy for homes and small businesses. These are not optional investments; they are essential to protecting livelihoods and reducing vulnerability to increasingly frequent shocks.
“As new allocations are set out, it will be critical to ensure that funding reaches those most exposed to climate impacts, particularly in least developing countries and communities facing overlapping risks. What is needed now is predictable, long-term investment that prioritises adaptation and supports locally led solutions ensuring communities can prepare for and withstand the impacts they are already facing.”
Jennifer Larbie, UK Influencing Lead at Christian Aid, said:
“Today’s slashing of climate finance, as part of wider deep cuts to the aid budget, is a political choice to boost the defence budget at Trump’s behest – one that the world’s most vulnerable people will pay for with their lives and livelihoods.
“From cruel reductions to welfare payments for disabled people here at home, to cuts affecting those on the frontline of a climate crisis they did not cause, this government continues to balance its books on the backs of the defenceless. Why must the most vulnerable pay for bombs and warships?
“If the government is determined to push through these cuts, it still has a choice: tax the excessive profits of oil companies driving the climate crisis to deliver much-needed climate finance, and introduce debt legislation to help deliver debt cancellation for countries in crisis across Africa, where countries are paying 50 times more in external debt repayments than they receive in UK aid.”
Tim Ingram, Head of UK Advocacy at WaterAid said:
“The UK’s remaining budget for international climate finance is starkly inadequate to address the climate crisis.
“People’s access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene is already at risk from longer and more frequent droughts, storms, and sea level rises.
“Partnerships need to be built on sustainable and predictable climate finance to implement national climate plans, build the resilience of communities, and protect global health, economies and security.”
Débora Leão, Senior Climate Policy Adviser at UNICEF UK, said:
“Climate change is increasingly threatening children’s health, education and future, and the world must act with ambition, speed and scale to ensure that every child is protected. Over the past 15 years, UK climate finance has helped minimise disruptions to children’s education and health services in climate-related disasters and supported families to access a safety net amid events like historic droughts. Today’s announcement of the UK’s climate finance for the next three years is an important indicator of the UK’s continued commitment to global efforts to prevent climate change and its devastating harms.
“Yet the overall reduction in aid funding will still impact millions of children who are experiencing more severe, frequent and deadly floods, droughts and heat. Without exploring alternative public and private sources of funding for climate efforts, beyond aid, the UK will be forced to make more and more difficult decisions between its ambitions to create a world free of poverty and safeguard a liveable planet. These must not be trade-offs. We urge the UK Government to prioritise children in its approach to climate and development, ensuring that climate finance reaches those who need it most. By investing to protect childhood from climate harms, the UK will contribute to a thriving future we can all be proud of.”
ENDS
Notes for editors:
- Climate Action Network UK (CAN-UK) brings together international development and environment organisations in the UK working on the poverty-nature-climate agenda to advocate for climate justice and sustainable development for all.
- CAN-UK is the UK node of Climate Action Network (CAN), a global network of more than 1,900 civil society organisations in over 130 countries driving collective and sustainable action to fight the climate crisis and to achieve social and racial justice. climatenetwork.org.
- Read CAN-UK’s letter to the Prime Minister from earlier this month urging him to increase climate finance and tax polluters to pay for it. The letter was supported by 86 UK organisations.
- Analysis by The ONE Campaign highlights that cutting UK ODA to 0.3% of GNI would put UK aid at its lowest level in over 25 years.
- ICF accounting rules changed in 2023 under the last government and have not been reversed. See analysis here by Save the Children UK
