• Timeline
• Votes
• Speeches
• Tweets
• Contact

Anneliese Dodds's Speeches In Parliament Related to Climate

We've found 40 Parliamentary debates in which Anneliese Dodds has spoken about climate-related matters.

Here are the relevant sections of their speeches.

• 8 Jul 2026: Societal Impact of AI: Government Policy

  14:53

  In public services, we must move beyond no, low and performative adoption to appropriate and transparent adoption that puts people and places first. It is critical that the UK can deploy sufficient compute to support those aspirations. I hope that the AI Energy Council can develop plans for a line delivery of renewable energy and data centre projects, as well as fixing difficult issues such as demand modulation to unblock additional capacity. There can genuinely be a win-win here, but for that and greater adoption to be achieved, I agree with what others have said: we have to face up to public concern about the risks. We need only look at what is happening in Scotland right now to see that.

  [Source]

• 19 May 2026: Energy Security

  15:37

  The Government have, rightly in my view, launched their sovereign AI fund, supporting innovative start-ups to scale up and generate value here in the UK, including access to compute. I know that many Ministers in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero have been working hard to ensure that the capacity is there to deliver that additional compute. However, when it comes to the design and use of AI systems and models, we have only the AI Security Institute, a world-first, expert-led organisation, but one that lacks statutory powers and has to ask companies politely to engage. Even the Trump Administration now appear to recognise the need for the evaluation of frontier AI models before release. If we are genuinely serious about our country’s economic security, we must devote as much attention to AI and its astonishingly transformative, productive and disruptive potential as we are rightly devoting to energy security and the delivery of home-grown renewables. That will first require working with the EU on digital regulation, and I will push for that to be reflected in the welcome EU partnership Bill.

  [Source]

• 24 Mar 2026: Oil and Gas

  The Opposition motion misrepresents the industry that North sea oil workers are in. It fails to set out a path towards sustainable employment for them and for their kids and grandkids—and, by the way, they do care about their children’s employment in Aberdeen. It also ignores the need to get energy bills down, let alone to tackle the climate emergency. The claims made in the motion that these measures would somehow boost employment and reduce bills are farcical.

  [Source]

• 23 Jun 2025: UK Modern Industrial Strategy

  18:02

  I welcome my right hon. Friend’s determination to reduce energy costs. He has heard about the need for that from me, from many other colleagues and from industry, and he has acted. The previous Government did not act; he has gripped on to this. I welcome that, because it will level the playing field for UK automotive, including for BMW Cowley. Of course, we also need action to incentivise domestic electric vehicle production, rather than the purchase of foreign-made electric vehicles. Will that be included in the ZEV—zero emission vehicle—mandate refresh that is referred to in the strategy?

  [Source]

• 7 Apr 2025: Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate

  17:00

  Workers at BMW Cowley have made clear to me their determination to play their part in a jobs-rich transition to net zero. Can my right hon. Friend explain how these changes will benefit BMW Cowley specifically, given its significance for my constituency and for UK manufacturing as a whole?

  [Source]

• 25 Feb 2025: Historic Slavery: Reparations

  12:06

  We are focused on working with our Caribbean partners to tackle the most pressuring challenges of today and the future, including security, growth and climate change.

  [Source]

• 11 Feb 2025: US Global Public Health Policy

  16:39

  The hon. Member talked about the threats from communicable disease being intensified by the climate crisis and environmental degradation. He was right to do so, but we also see non-communicable disease becoming more frequent in many countries in the global south, and there is still a potential threat from pandemics too. We are also working with others to champion sexual and reproductive health rights and freedoms for all, including as a key part of our work to empower women and girls.

  [Source]

• 6 Feb 2025: Official Development Assistance: Programme Allocations 2024-25

  ODA is central for delivering the Government’s mission to help create a world free from poverty on a liveable planet, working in a modern, genuine partnership with the global south. FCDO’s ODA spending will be used to achieve better development outcomes as part of a coherent international approach, with a strong focus on poverty reduction and accelerating progress on the sustainable development goals. Our approach to development will deliver inclusive growth, tackle the climate crisis and address irregular migration.

  [Source]

• 23 Jan 2025: International Day of Education

  14:20

  The climate crisis and conflict are now disrupting the education of more than 220 million children and counting every single year. Last year alone, extreme weather events meant that children in low-income countries missed out on 18 days of school. As I discussed with some young people in South Sudan, the children who are flooded out of their schools during the rainy season are the same children who are not able to learn because it is too hot during the dry season. That means that in many of those countries, some children are missing up to a whole month of school. Millions of the children who are in school are not learning effectively, including the 70% of children in school in low and middle-income countries who are still unable to read a basic text by the age of 10.

  In short, we need the kind of massive global effort that many Members have said is necessary during this debate, to ensure that people are provided with a quality education. Over the last six months, I have been making the case for action around the world, from South Sudan to the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York, and at the World Bank in Washington and the COP29 climate summit in Baku. I also met the young people from across our country who have been championing global education in schools when they came to Parliament —perhaps other Members also met them; they were incredibly powerful advocates.

  Finally, we are investing to make education systems more resilient to the climate crisis and better able to help students thrive beyond their school years.

  [Source]

  14:35

  We are investing to make systems for education more resilient. At COP28 in Dubai, the UK helped to launch a new global declaration on the common agenda for education and climate change, through which 90 countries have now committed to action on climate that helps protect education. Ahead of COP30 in Brazil this year, we are working with our partners to prioritise the role of education in combating the climate and nature crises and to secure further action to protect children, including when they are learning, from extreme weather.

  [Source]

• 14 Jan 2025: Climate Change: UK Leadership

  11:36

  Our thoughts are with all those hit by the dreadful crises that my hon. Friend mentions. At COP29, the UK showed leadership in setting an ambitious nationally determined contribution to cut emissions by 81% by 2035. We are championing clean energy at home and abroad, including through the launch of GB Energy and the global clean power alliance.

  [Source]

  I am grateful to the right hon. Lady for her question, but she will surely understand that the COP agreement was about the global goal. The precise share for individual countries is worked out through the normal processes. It was her Government—a Conservative Government—who committed to the £11.6 billion climate finance goal. Unlike the previous Government, however, we are determined to fit that within our responsibilities and deliver on it for the sake of our climate and our economy.

  [Source]

• 9 Jan 2025: Impact of Conflict on Women and Girls

  15:24

  At the United Nations General Assembly last September, the Prime Minister gave a clear commitment to work together for peace, progress and equality. It is clear that women and girls must be at the heart of that work and at the heart of our development policy—I completely agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Norwich North on that. I say to my hon. Friend the Member for South East Cornwall (Anna Gelderd) that they also need to be at the heart of our work in relation to the climate crisis, and we ensured that was the case in our representation at COP.

  [Source]

• 16 Dec 2024: Draft Asian Development Bank (Thirteenth Replenishment of the Asian Development Fund) Order 2024 Draft Inter-American Investment Corporation (Further Payments to Capital Stock) Order 2024

  18:04

  ADB is an important partner for the UK that plays a key role in the achievement of regional development objectives on sustainable development and climate change. In line with multilateral development bank reform priorities to support the most vulnerable, the UK has committed £120 million to ADF to maintain our position as the fourth largest donor. The draft Asian Development Bank (Thirteenth Replenishment of the Asian Development Fund) Order will allow for the provision of this core funding by the UK. During this replenishment, a record high of 38%—almost $2 billion—will be funded from ADB’s own net income, reducing the cost to donors of achieving the same development impact. The total value of the replenishment is $5 billion.

  The replenishment will prioritise dedicated assistance to small-island developing states, which are particularly vulnerable to climate change, and to countries in fragile and conflict-affected situations, including Afghanistan and Myanmar. It will support much-needed climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction, will promote gender equality, will support regional integration nd the provision of regional public goods and will increase the living standards of poor and vulnerable people in the region. Specifically, ADF will dedicate at least 45% of its financing to climate mitigation and adaptation; will commit $900 million for Afghanistan and $200 million for Myanmar, providing vital support for basic human needs and livelihood development; will increase commitments to Pacific island states to $1.3 billion, some 35% of the total replenishment financing; and will allocate 20% of thematic funding to gender-transformative action, which will tackle violence against women and girls, ensure access to sexual and reproductive services and promote access to economic resources such as land and asset ownership.

  ADF is an essential lifeline to the region’s most vulnerable people, who have faced multiple crises over the past few years, including climate change, coronavirus and the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. ADF provides excellent value for money for the taxpayer, leveraging approximately $11 from the bank’s resources for every $1 contributed by donors. This is one step closer to building a bigger, better and fairer international financial system—one that delivers for everyone.

  The IDB is also a trusted UK partner and is instrumental in the achievement of regional development objectives on sustainable development, action on climate change, biodiversity protection and pandemic and disaster preparedness. Furthermore, the G20 has called on multilateral development banks to adopt new business models to stretch their balance sheets, increase lending and make riskier investments. With the new Government, the UK has been at the forefront of these calls. This is exactly what IDB Invest has committed to doing.

  Let me lay out some of the outcomes that IDB Invest expects to achieve by 2030 through the new business model and capital increase. It will dedicate at least 60% of investments to climate and green finance; will finance 2.5 million micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, which in turn could support 9.5 million jobs; will create more than 300,000 women direct beneficiaries of its programmes and support 1.6 million of the region’s poor and vulnerable people; and will improve access to agricultural services and investments for 44,000 farmers. It is also predicted to achieve a reduction of 3.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions and to generate 1,400 MW from renewable sources for new clean energy projects. In addition, IDB Invest will continue to share lessons learned in the implementation of its business model with other development finance institutions to encourage more private sector investment globally. This represents excellent value for money: for every $1 that the UK invests, $5 of development-related assets are generated, taking us one step closer to achieving the region’s sustainable development goals.

  [Source]

  The shadow Minister asked about regional co-operation. A particularly important area is encouraging intra-regional trade and encouraging, for example, the integration of energy systems, which is becoming increasingly important in the light of the climate crisis. These are areas that have been examined.

  The shadow Minister asked about the Caribbean. The fund will, absolutely, be focused on the Caribbean, which is really important. That is particularly the case when it comes to adaptation-focused investment. IDB Invest will be making 10% of its investments in the Caribbean, and 60% of its focus will be on pro-environmental and climate measures, including adaptation, which are particularly important for those countries and overseas territories that are being hammered by the impacts of the climate crisis right now.

  [Source]

• 28 Nov 2024: UK Leadership on Sudan

  On conversations with civil society organisations in South Sudan, I have had a number of discussions—particularly with women’s rights organisations there—about the conflict, and I have spoken directly with some of those who have fled Sudan. I have spoken with representatives from Chad about it as well. We must be conscious that, as I mentioned, many of those countries already face significant challenges in food insecurity, economic development and the impact of the climate crisis, and now they are dealing with this major influx of refugees. We must pay tribute to them for enabling those refugees to seek safety and security within their borders.

  [Source]

  I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his interesting and important question. The issue of conflict prevention is absolutely fundamental, not just for me as a Minister but for the Foreign Secretary and, indeed, the Prime Minister. We have been seeking to ensure that the UK does all it can to exercise leadership in relation to what are often described as fragile and conflict-affected states. That includes states that are not yet in conflict but where there are the ingredients for conflict to increase. Unfortunately, of course, the climate crisis is now often linked to some of those conflicts. We have made sure that there is a stronger focus on economic development, for example. We had some good results a few weeks ago from the World Bank, which is focusing on this in its International Development Association replenishment. I will ensure that the specific issue of defence training is raised with the Defence Secretary, and I will definitely be thinking about it myself.

  [Source]

• 21 Nov 2024: World Health Organisation Investment Round

  With a future pandemic a certainty, climate change a fundamental threat to public health, and the rise of antimicrobial resistance-related deaths, the link between national health security and global health security has never been clearer. From surveillance and tackling pandemics to strengthening country health systems ready to address the challenges of tomorrow, the WHO plays a vital global leadership role.

  This investment, alongside other international partners’ support, will enable the WHO to prioritise activities that directly contribute to better health outcomes worldwide. Outcomes supported include: an enhanced global health emergency response—better protecting 7 billion people from health emergencies by 2028; ensuring universal health coverage—supporting 5 billion people to access quality health services without suffering financial hardship; combating antimicrobial resistance—accelerating actions to counter the growing threat of AMR; and strengthening climate resilience—supporting adaptation plans to better prepare nations for the impacts of climate change.

  [Source]

• 30 Oct 2024: COP29 and International Climate Finance

  This Government are getting on with reconnecting Britain to the world and modernising our approach to international development in a spirit of genuine partnership and respect, as I set out in a speech at Chatham House a couple of weeks ago. That speech built on the Foreign Secretary’s lecture at Kew Gardens, in which he reiterated our view that action on the climate and nature crisis must be at the heart of everything that we do. I am grateful to the hon. Member for North Herefordshire for making reference to that; it is a genuine and important commitment. We believe that action on the climate crisis is critical to grow our economy and bring opportunities to people across our country and globally, and we know that our partners around the world share that ambition. When I was in Indonesia, for example, I was pleased to sign an agreement on critical minerals with the Government there, working on the climate crisis and green growth with them. We have a strong shared agenda, and we need to solidify that partnership globally.

  [Source]

  We are clear that situations of extreme humanitarian need globally are so often driven by conflict and climate crisis—in fact, they are often driven by the two intertwined. I unfortunately saw that for myself in South Sudan, at the Bentiu camp for internally displaced people. People escaping the horrific civil war in Sudan are managing to make it to the IDP camp, but they are surrounded by floodwater. It is now a permanently flooded area, making an already horrendous situation worse. We need to recognise the fundamental impact that the climate crisis is having right now, as the hon. Member for North Herefordshire rightly underlined.

  [Source]

  16:19

  I am very pleased to be heading to Baku for the climate COP alongside the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary, who attended previously when in opposition. As well as coming forward with our own ambitious, nationally determined contribution for the UK at COP29, we are determined to support others to scale up their ambition and action. That includes initiatives such as the global clean power alliance, which the hon. Member for North Herefordshire may have heard mention of. That is a strong commitment from the new UK Government. We are determined to deliver greater political momentum.

  When speaking with our friends based on small islands and in fragile and vulnerable states, such as many of those the UK Government met with at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Samoa, we hear very loudly and clearly how difficult it is for them to access the finance that they need, especially climate finance. Very little of it is getting to those who need it, particularly fragile and conflict-affected states. The UK is determined to work with our partners to change that. I have prioritised, including at the World Bank annuals last week, trying to push hard for sources of climate finance and adaptation finance to be available. I am grateful to the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) for mentioning the role of farmers. The proportion of climate finance that reaches farmers in the most fragile and conflict-affected states is minuscule, particularly for adaptation. That must change urgently.

  I agree with the hon. Member for North Herefordshire that we must increase the level of dedicated climate finance from all sources across the causes and impacts of the climate crisis. We are determined to agree an ambitious new collective quantified goal; that is absolutely pivotal to our negotiations and vital to maintaining the global consensus of the Paris agreement and keeping 1.5° of warming within our reach. The UK is working extremely hard on this. The Department I am based in and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero are working closely together and with our new climate and nature representatives. We have been carrying that forward at every opportunity.

  [Source]

  16:21

  Of course, that collective quantified goal needs to be agreed. From the UK’s point of view, we are determined to exercise leadership. I am delighted that the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, who was engaged in this 16 years ago and managed to achieve great things then, is working with my Department, our representatives and so many contacts from all across the world to say, “How can we put forward the overall figure that is needed?” It has to be jointly agreed, as the hon. Member knows. The most important thing is that we get a figure out at the end because if those negotiations do not succeed, we will be taking a step backwards when we are in a situation of such urgent need.

  [Source]

  16:23

  As the hon. Member rightly mentioned previously, the UK has traditionally been a funder in this area, focusing particularly on the quality of climate finance and ensuring that there is sufficient grant and concessional finance. That is something we are determined to continue to do.

  For our part, as well as co-chairing the global green climate fund, we are working towards making good on the UK’s pledge to get help to those who need it. We want robust roles to be agreed for article 6 on how countries co-operate to reduce emissions. We need real follow-through from the global stocktake on commitments such as tripling renewable power and doubling energy efficiency globally by 2030, and we need implementation of the national adaptation plans as we scale up finance in support. We have committed £100 million to the taskforce on access to climate finance that the UK co-chairs with Rwanda, and we are working with the World Bank and the board of the new fund for those facing devastating loss and damage; the hon. Member was right to mention that as being important.

  [Source]

  I am grateful to the hon. Lady for making that point. She may have heard the Chancellor state today that this new Government will ensure that what was described as a windfall tax on oil and gas companies, but did not operate as one because of the numerous loopholes, will be tightened up. We will ensure that support for decarbonisation is incentivised, rather than disincentivised, as it was under the previous approach to taxation, so big changes are taking place.

  [Source]

• 28 Oct 2024: Sea Level Rise: Maritime Zones

  When UNCLOS was drafted, significant sea level rise and changes in coastlines as a result of the climate crisis were not contemplated by the drafters, and no provision was made for this. However, with sea level rise, coastlines are likely to regress, and some features may be completely inundated and lost.

  The International Law Commission is the UN body of international law experts responsible for studying and making recommendations to encourage the progressive development and codification of international law. ILC work on the topic of sea level rise in international law has been ongoing since 2019, and the UK has responded to ILC requests for information on state practice. On 6 August 2021, the Pacific Islands Forum made a declaration to the effect that having, in accordance with UNCLOS, established and notified their maritime zones to the UN Secretary-General, Pacific Islands Forum members intend to maintain these zones without reduction, notwithstanding climate change-related sea level rise, and will not review or update the baselines or outer limits of their maritime zones as a consequence of climate change-related sea level rise. The Alliance of Small Island States made a similar statement in their leaders’ declaration in September 2021.

  Having considered the work of the ILC to date on the issue of maritime boundaries, and the views of our partners, I can confirm that the UK Government take the view that UNCLOS imposes no express or affirmative obligation on states to keep their baselines or the outer limits of maritime zones derived from them under review, or to update them once they have been established in accordance with UNCLOS. UNCLOS provides that baselines and outer limits of the maritime zones are as shown on the relevant chart or specified by co-ordinates. It does not expressly require coastal states to update those charts or co-ordinates. This position is consistent with the object and purpose of UNCLOS as a regime for securing a stable division of maritime space. Once a state has established its maritime zones in accordance with UNCLOS, it is permitted to maintain those maritime zones, and the rights and entitlements that flow from them, notwithstanding changes to coastlines and physical features that result from sea level rise caused by the climate crisis. This does not prejudice the UK Government’s position on other international law questions raised by sea level rise that the ILC is also considering.

  [Source]

• 28 Oct 2024: International Engagement

  18:09

  The Foreign Secretary unveiled a plan of action to boost investment opportunities across all members, especially smaller and more vulnerable states that are bearing the brunt of the impacts of the climate crisis. In support of the plan, the Foreign Secretary committed seed funding for a new Commonwealth investment network to identify opportunities across the Commonwealth that public-private partnerships could unlock. In Samoa, he launched two new trade hubs to help female entrepreneurs access global markets, following my announcement at the World Bank. He announced measures to support Commonwealth partners to create a better environment for growth by supporting democratic governance, human rights and the rule of law. That is really important, because without targeted support, we run the risk of some within the Commonwealth missing out on economic development, at a time when we need everyone to be part of global growth.

  The Prime Minster and the Foreign Secretary raised the ambition to protect the ocean and sea species. We have increased technical assistance to small states to help them unlock access to climate finance, and we were proud to agree the first Commonwealth ocean declaration. Of the 56 Commonwealth members, 49 have a coastline, and our members are home to around half all global coral reefs. We were delighted that the whole Commonwealth came together to back global efforts to protect at least 30% of the planet’s ocean by 2030, urged rapid ratification of the agreement on marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction, and called for an ambitious global plastic pollution treaty that addresses the full life cycle of plastics—all that as the Foreign Secretary supported a beach clean-up with young Samoans, as part of a relay right across the Commonwealth that will pick up a million pieces of plastic by the 2026 Commonwealth games in Glasgow.

  [Source]

  18:19

  I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising this issue. He is right: it is an issue of which not only UK farmers and agriculture experts in our universities but the British public are deeply supportive, and the Government are determined to do what we can to support sustainable agriculture. We see, for example, very little climate finance going into that arena. More of it should be going there, which is why the UK is working with the US and, indeed, announced support for joint initiatives last week at the World Bank annual meeting.

  [Source]

  18:19

  I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising such an important issue. There are indeed many small island developing states among the Commonwealth states, and for them the climate crisis is an existential issue. We have seen severe impacts on a number of small island developing states, with extreme weather and erosion having a huge effect on people’s security and their livelihoods. Under the new Government, the UK is determined to exercise leadership on this issue, and that has included a range of measures. I will not go through them now, but one critical element is ensuring that there is support for adaptation as well as for mitigation. These small states really need to be helped to adapt to the new weather systems that we are seeing, and the UK Government are doing all that they can to ensure that that happens.

  [Source]

  I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for raising this issue, and for his passion in doing so. He is absolutely right: many countries have to pay substantial amounts on servicing debt at the same time as having to deal with repeated crises—not least the nature and climate crisis, but also crises deriving from conflict—so we need to show leadership on these issues. That is why we are working with the rest of the G20 on their framework. It needs to be faster and stronger, and it needs to work better. We will play our part in trying to ensure that, and we will work with the Paris Club on this agenda too.

  [Source]

  I have to say that I find the right hon. Gentleman’s question rather surprising. I do not believe that Heads of Government are in any doubt about the new UK Government’s approach to these questions. Indeed, the new Government, the Foreign Secretary, the Prime Minister and the ministerial team have had more engagement with Heads of Government and our friends in the Commonwealth than we have seen for a very long time. That engagement is clear, and our message is very clear indeed. As I said, the Prime Minister himself has articulated that, including in Samoa. He made it clear that none of the UK Government discussions had been about money, and our position is very clear: we do not pay reparations. As I explained during my statement, the focus of conversations at CHOGM was the fact that we need to act together on the climate crisis, and to drive growth and prosperity for the whole Commonwealth.

  [Source]

  18:41

  I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising this issue, in which she has considerable experience. Globally, by 2030, 60% of people in extreme poverty will live in fragile and conflict-affected states. We need to see much more action: less than 5% of climate finance, for example, goes into adaptation, with only a tiny fragment going into fragile and conflict-affected states. The UK is determined to exercise leadership, and the new Government have been pressing multilateral institutions to do more. Last week, at the World Bank, we saw some important moves, which I am pleased to say were pushed by the new Government.

  [Source]

• 22 Oct 2024: Topical Questions

  My hon. Friend raises an incredibly important point. It is critical that the UK can speak with credibility on these issues—and now, under the new UK Government, we can, given the creation of GB Energy and the other measures that we have taken. We are ensuring that climate leadership is always to the fore, including in the conferences of the parties. Of course, the COP nature summit in Colombia is fast approaching.

  [Source]

• 15 Oct 2024: Innovative Finance Facility for Climate in Asia and the Pacific

  I have today laid a departmental minute describing a new liability, the innovative finance facility for climate in Asia and the Pacific (IFCAP), which the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is undertaking to unlock additional climate finance in Asia and the Pacific. The liability is a guarantee of $280 million (£210 million) to the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) IFCAP guarantee facility. The guarantee will have no up-front cost to the UK. The length of this liability is 25 years. A copy of the departmental minute to Parliament has been placed in the Library of the House.

  There is huge demand for finance, especially for climate transitions, in Asia. The ADB has pledged to become the “climate bank of Asia” and, in line with UK asks, has announced an ambition to commit $100 billion at COP26 to climate finance projects between 2019 and 2030. This will require a doubling of its climate finance commitments in the second half of this decade compared to 2019 to 2023.

  IFCAP is a mechanism developed by the ADB that will support this ambition. Through IFCAP, the UK and other development partners will provide guarantees to the ADB. Together, this will unlock up to $11 billion of new affordable climate finance from the ADB to middle-income countries in Asia and the Pacific—of which $1.2 billion is directly as a result of the proposed UK guarantee. The additional climate finance unlocked by IFCAP will help to mitigate carbon emissions in some of the highest polluting countries globally, and to support resilience to natural disasters in the most climate-vulnerable populations.

  The UK guarantee would pay out through the ODA budget, up to a limit, the value of any missed repayment within six months if there were to be a default to the ADB by a country in the portfolio of loans guaranteed under IFCAP. The maximum total payout would be $280 million (£210 million), and the annual estimated payout for IFCAP is £6 million per year over the 25-year lifetime of the guarantee. The guarantee provides powerful credit relief to the ADB, allowing them to increase climate finance by up to $4.50 for every $1 guaranteed through IFCAP.

  [Source]

• 18 Jul 2024: Foreign Affairs and Defence

  15:53

  In these often dangerous and divided times, the UK’s security is our first priority, as my right hon. Friend the Defence Secretary made clear. We will stand up for our interests and for our values. We will create a new relationship with the EU, we will deepen our engagement with the global south, we will reclaim leadership on tackling the climate crisis, and we will champion human rights and international law. We will work in partnership with our friends and allies to reduce global poverty and the drivers of conflict and instability, and we will also empower women and girls. In that connection, I congratulate my new hon. Friend the Member for Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme (Lee Pitcher) on his heartwarming maiden speech, and particularly his reference to the women in his life. Indeed, many new Members have made reference to their partners and families in their maiden speeches.

  As the Minister for Development and for Women and Equalities, I know that delivering a truly effective and modern approach to development has never been so urgent or so important. On that, I concur with the right hon. Member for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale (David Mundell). Partnership, not paternalism, is required to deliver the change that is so desperately needed. Next week, I will go to the G20 development ministerial meeting in Brazil to reconnect with allies and partner countries in the global south. Together, we must reform the international financial system to tackle unsustainable debt, accelerate growth and unlock climate finance. Together, we must enhance our ability to prevent conflict, and together we must restore our development reputation to deliver both for our international partners and for the British people—and it does need restoring.

  [Source]

• 20 May 2024: Low Traffic Neighbourhoods

  16:35

  Does my hon. Friend share my concern at the manner in which the Conservative Government initially funded these projects, stating that LTN money could not be used for longer-term, more integrated transport plans? Does she agree that while many local residents will understandably support LTNs in the streets they live on, if we are to tackle the climate crisis, we have to ensure that everyone, not just those on higher incomes, can get from A to B and travel in a cleaner, greener way? People who live on council estates surrounding city centres also need their transport needs considered.

  [Source]

  Does the Minister accept that his Department has been part of the problem? He talks about enabling choice, but I wrote to the Department for Transport in 2022 to say that there was a need for a joined-up approach and that there were concerns about how bus operators would operate, which was critical for people who were not able to cycle or walk. The response I got back did not say that my city could have a joined-up approach or that it could have longer-term funding. Instead, it effectively said, “This is the programme.” If we really are going to have action on the climate crisis, perhaps his Department should have listened a little more.

  [Source]

• 4 Mar 2021: Income Tax (Charge)

  12:49

  Moreover, where will the new jobs come from? With the hosting of COP26 this year and the eyes of the world upon us, the UK has an enormous opportunity to show how an active Government making smart investments can help us emerge from the economic crisis and meet our net zero ambitions at the same time. Labour has called for £30 billion of investment to be accelerated into the next 18 months to support the creation of 400,000 new green jobs, but, unbelievably, yesterday’s Budget took us backwards. The Government have actually cut half a billion pounds of capital investment from their plans for the coming year, and the green homes grant, the flagship programme of the Chancellor’s summer statement last year, seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth, after more than 75% of its funding was cut and it was found to have been costing jobs.

  [Source]

• 23 Feb 2021: Government's Management of the Economy

  00:00

  We need action, not rhetoric, to support the creation of new jobs. There is a tremendous opportunity here to align job creation with our net zero ambitions. Labour has called for the acceleration of £30 billion of green investment in the next 18 months. We have demonstrated how that could support the creation of 400,000 new green jobs. Incredibly, the Chancellor cut £300 million from the planned capital budget in November. His shambolic green homes grant has been so badly delivered that it is actually costing jobs. We urgently need a change of course, so that we can support business to build the new jobs of the future.

  [Source]

• 25 Nov 2020: Spending Review 2020 and OBR Forecast

  00:09

  To rebuild business, we called for a national investment bank. I welcome the announcement of a new UK infrastructure bank, given that valuable years have been lost since the Green Investment Bank was sold off. Now the Chancellor must boost its firepower, and he must deliver on his Department’s responsibility for the drive to net zero. We have known since the Stern report that the climate crisis is the biggest long-term threat to our economy, yet far too often, this spending review locks us into a path that will make the transition to net zero harder, not easier, locking our economy out of the green jobs of the future.

  Next year, the eyes of the world will be on the UK as we assume the presidencies of the G7 and the UN Security Council and host the COP26 summit, yet now is the time that the Chancellor has turned his back on the world’s poorest by cutting international aid. It is in Britain’s national interest to lay the foundations for economic growth around the world—no wonder many British businesses have condemned his move.

  [Source]

• 9 Nov 2020: Future of Financial Services

  00:00

  Labour supports the move to greater disclosure of climate-related information. Two months ago, we called on the Government to show leadership and introduce mandatory reporting ahead of COP26. The Chancellor’s announcement and that of the Financial Conduct Authority this morning are positive, but they only relate to a “comply or explain” basis, with full implementation not set for many years—until 2025. The climate crisis demands bolder action. Will the Chancellor move to mandatory reporting in the 2021-22 reporting year?

  [Source]

• 8 Jul 2020: Economic Update

  13:11

  We must be ambitious for the future of our country’s economy. Our ambition should not be just to build our way out of this but to do so in a greener and cleaner way. For this, we need more than the reheated announcements by the Prime Minister last week. Of course the investment announced was welcome, not least because much of it was already committed to by the Government. However, core elements are missing. For example, £50 million to support retrofitting in social homes is just a seventh of what the Conservatives said they would be spending every year. The muddled confusions over stamp duty over the past 48 hours reflect a broader lack of strategy when it comes to house building, particularly for genuinely affordable and social homes. Overall, the UK’s green investment package barely touches the sides of other countries’ commitments. Even with what was announced today, it only equates to just over the value of Germany’s investment in one green technology alone—hydrogen. The Committee on Climate Change has indicated how far behind the UK is in the race to decarbonise. Failure to heed its recommendations is not only damaging to our planet, but it also cuts us out of leading the development of the key technologies of the future. The Conservatives are still refusing to impose conditions on investment to ensure that it contributes to the goal of net zero and that it supports local jobs, uses local firms, leads to sustainable skilled employment in local areas and prevents the use of tax havens and other forms of asset stripping.

  [Source]

• 27 Apr 2020: Finance Bill

  00:01

  Finally, of course, we will need to deal with the considerable burden created by the costs necessarily incurred in fighting coronavirus. Subsequent Finance Bills will need to be very different from this one, and I want to use the time I have available to spell out why. We will need new approaches to taxation generally, the social contract with business, funding public services, the climate crisis and tax reliefs. I will deal with each area briefly in turn.

  An additional area where action is needed is tackling the climate crisis. Survey evidence, albeit tentative at this stage, suggests a renewed appetite from the public to grasp the challenges posed by the need to decarbonise. The Bill makes small moves in the right direction. It incrementally increases vehicle excise duty, using emissions as a benchmark—the Chief Secretary to the Treasury mentioned that—and it introduces the world- wide harmonised light-duty vehicles test procedure, a UN-established vehicle testing procedure, in an attempt to prevent the gaming of emissions standards by vehicle manufacturers. We encourage the Government to adopt a steady replacement of all testing procedures within that framework. More broadly, we need a far stronger shift in taxation to disincentivise carbon production. The previous Finance Bill continued implicitly to support fossil fuels in a number of areas, and this one only sets the scene for some elements of the promised new plastics tax and the new emissions controls that will be necessary. Given that we have declared a national climate emergency in this very House, we need far stronger action in subsequent Finance Bills.

  [Source]

• 4 Mar 2020: VAT (Listed Properties)

  17:33

  The debate has been about whether we need a targeted change in relation to repairs to listed properties. On a bit of a tangent, there was a little discussion about VAT on the installation of energy-saving technologies. I agree with the comments of the hon. Member for Glasgow Central (Alison Thewliss) in that regard—she was spot on. The comments by the hon. Member for Bath (Wera Hobhouse) about the listing system in Bath and what it has achieved were very interesting, but I question whether a high cost for introducing energy efficiency and renewable energy is unique to the listed sector.

  [Source]

• 25 Jul 2019: Priorities for Government

  13:19

  If the Prime Minister actually cares about it, why did he devote only one sentence out of 61 sentences in his speech last night and only two sentences out of 97 in his statement today to the climate emergency?

  [Source]

• 25 Jul 2019: Summer Adjournment

  16:09

  I rise to speak today because the House declared a climate emergency on 1 May. If anything, that emergency has become ever more evident over recent days. While we have been in this House, outside in our country the temperatures reached a record-breaking 39°. I pay tribute to all those emergency services who have been helping people to deal with the heatwave. They have been active in Paris as well, which has just itself reached a new record of 41°. In the Netherlands and Belgium, national records for temperature have already been broken this year.

  I have talked to lots of children and young people in my constituency about the climate crisis. In fact, many of them have come to speak to me during mass lobbies on the topic in this place. I know how concerned many of them are about the crisis; in fact, many of them at local schools have been producing posters with their views about the environmental crisis. I find it heartbreaking to see their images of the climate breakdown—of what they think it will be like if we do not act—but I am inspired by their passion and determination to do something about it.

  When we return to Parliament, I hope it will not be to the chaos of an impending no-deal Brexit, but even more fundamentally it must not be a return to business as usual. When we come back at the beginning of September, it must be to a legislative programme that meets the aspirations of those children and young people and their parents, that faces up to the climate crisis, and that actually embodies the meaning of the term “emergency”: a situation that demands an immediate response.

  [Source]

• 1 May 2019: Environment and Climate Change

  18:43

  My city of Oxford has not just declared a climate emergency, but is putting in place the UK’s first ever zero emissions zone and is also convening right now a citizens’ assembly to discuss measures to deal with that climate emergency. If we decide collectively in this House that we have a climate emergency, we must act on it, and we need to do so above all in three areas.

  [Source]

• 23 Apr 2019: Climate Action and Extinction Rebellion

  16:50

  My city of Oxford is the first in the country to create a citizens’ assembly focused on the climate crisis. The Minister said that she wanted a broad-based debate, but we all know what happens far too often: we have a politically expedient knee-jerk reaction to anything that goes against the status quo. So please will she come to Oxford, see what we are doing, and look genuinely at these cases so that we can have a much more broad-based discussion about the climate crisis and do something about it?

  [Source]

• 6 Dec 2018: Finance (No. 3) Bill (Seventh sitting)

  11:44

  Is my hon. Friend aware that my city, Oxford, is due potentially to be the first city in Europe with a zero emissions zone? We need more support for such initiatives from the Government—more than has been forthcoming up to this point.

  [Source]

• 24 Jul 2018: Office for Budget Responsibility

  10:24

  Labour is such a strong supporter of the OBR that we agree with the hon. Member for Ochil and South Perthshire about an extended remit. The OBR has helpfully raised the salience of long-term challenges for the UK’s public finances due to demographic change—something the hon. Member for Henley (John Howell) usefully mentioned—but Labour Members feel that it could have a more expansive role when it comes to a long-term threat that is not sufficiently considered by the Government, that of climate change and environmental degradation, to which many experts, not least Lord Stern, have drawn attention. We ask the OBR to report in particular on the fiscal risks of climate change, which could include the impact of raised food costs, the costs of flooding, and lost productivity caused by extreme weather events.

  Adding more of a focus on environmental matters to the OBR’s remit would go with the grain of what the Bank of England has been doing by incorporating a consideration of banks’ exposure to climate change-related risks and stranded assets as it regulates banks. It would echo the approach of many long-term investors who are increasingly considering environmental matters when it comes to assessing the promise of different investment opportunities. The OBR would probably be willing and happy to do something that would usefully build on its existing activity.

  [Source]

• 10 Jul 2018: Air Passenger Duty

  10:34

  Our final concern is about APD’s impact, or otherwise, on environmental outcomes. In response to a question posed by the hon. Member for Henley, the hon. Member for Belfast East maintained that APD does not have a positive environmental impact. However, we must look at it in the context of enormous public concern around climate change and the increasing significance of emissions from aviation. At APD’s introduction in 1994 and, following that, the Labour Government’s focus on it, there was an attempt to ensure that its design would have a green impact. For example, during the 2007 Budget process it was stated that APD

  “plays a valuable role in ensuring that passengers understand and acknowledge the environmental costs of their actions. The resultant behaviour change can deliver significant climate change benefits”.

  [Source]

• 22 Feb 2018: Air Quality

  11:03

  Oxford was excluded from the mandated list because only 3% of our monitoring sites were included. Do the Government now accept that that decision was wrong and that, as the first British city to commit itself to a zero-emission zone, we really need the powers and resources that she mentioned?

  [Source]

• 21 Feb 2018: Finance (No. 2) Bill

  18:02

  Amendment 12 focuses on an issue that I raised in Committee: the fact that taxi drivers with a zero-emission capable vehicle will not be exempt from vehicle excise duty until next year. As we discussed in Committee—I am sure that the Minister remembers this—taxi drivers need to purchase their car over a long period due to its relatively high cost. In many areas of the country, taxi drivers are shifting to lower or zero-emission capable taxis. I asked the Minister whether further changes were needed to the Bill so that the take-up of zero-emission capable taxis would not be choked off. I was grateful to the Minister for stating that there would be a consultation on the new measures in the spring, but I do not know whether that consultation has yet begun, so perhaps the Minister will enlighten us on that point. In the meantime, it seems sensible, as my hon. Friend the Member for Ilford North proposes, to prevent taxi drivers from taking a hit when they have taken an environmentally friendly choice, which has considerable financial consequences for them because the vehicles are more expensive than standard taxis.

  [Source]

• 16 Jan 2018: Finance (No. 2) Bill (Sixth sitting)

  15:12

  The Opposition have received a submission that it is worth asking a question about. It is about the specific case of taxis that are zero-emission capable. As I understand it, they will be exempt from the VED supplement from 1 April 2019, but not until then. There is the complication that taxis are classified as passenger cars because they are built to carry passengers, rather than as commercial vehicles, although in practice they are not really operating as commercial vehicles, which means that at the moment they are subject to the VED standard rates.

  As those of us who have done any casework on this will know, taxi drivers need to purchase their car for a long period and there are complicated financing arrangements. In many areas we are keen to promote zero-emission taxis, or taxis that will be capable of transferring to zero or low-emission bases in future. It would be helpful to hear from the Minister whether some further calibration could be done on this measure, so as not to choke off the development of zero-emission capable taxis. I thought the submission was quite interesting in that regard.

  [Source]

• 9 Jan 2018: Finance (No. 2) Bill (First sitting)

  10:43

  Secondly, it is important that we review the measure’s contribution to emissions reductions targets because of the lack of other environmental commitments in the Bill. Sadly, the Bill lacks measures to reduce carbon emissions in order to halt the climate crisis, despite many of us hoping that it would include, for example, more tax breaks for solar technologies, which have sadly been scaled back.

  [Source]

• 19 Oct 2017: Finance Bill (Fourth sitting)

  14:52

  Secondly, how does the policy relate to other measures within the fiscal system that aim to promote low-carbon technologies? The founder and CEO of the renewable energy investor Rockfire Capital states:

  Removing the renewable energy exemption from the climate change levy has reduced the tax incentives for business to invest in large-scale renewable energy schemes. Green cars are only green if green energy is going into them.

  [Source]

See all Parliamentary Speeches Mentioning Climate