Here are the climate-related sections of speeches by MPs during the Commons debate Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
Sarah Champion (Labour)
Over successive Governments, we have seen a sustained reduction in the United Kingdom’s development budget, ODA—official development assistance. First we saw the cut from 0.7% to 0.5% of GNI, and there is now a stated path towards 0.3% by 2027. It has also been reported that the UK’s international climate finance commitment is now to be slashed by £2.6 billion. Those cuts have consequences: they affect how the UK is perceived internationally, as well as our ability to support stability and prosperity, both overseas and in our own country.
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14:35 Noah Law (Labour)
That is the right ambition, but the model we have used to deliver that has been confused for far too long. We often hear of the financing gaps—the trillions that must be filled to meet the sustainable development goals and to overcome the challenge of climate change—but the reality is that overseas development assistance cannot so much as touch the sides in all this.
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Noah Law (Labour)
As I have suggested, I very much welcome our Government’s shift from donor to investor, but I have a question for the Minister. At a time when we effectively have an in-built bias towards capital investment over resource spending in our Government’s fiscal policy, why are we not able to go further in capitalising on some of the very institutions that we know will deliver on the development and climate goals, and in helping to mobilise the vast sums that we know are needed to develop the world’s poorest economies? That capital could return to Britain’s public coffers, so that it can be put to future use.
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14:39 Brian Mathew (Liberal Democrat)
A number of sectors have been assisted by UK aid—from girls’ education, health, nutrition and climate finance to disaster and war mitigation in places such as Gaza and Sudan. Since I was elected, I have had the privilege of serving on the International Development Committee, so I have had a chance to hear about the results and implications of the cuts to our aid programme, and indeed to USAID, which has been virtually destroyed, to the shame of the US Administration and the President.
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14:39 Janet Daby (Labour)
It goes without saying that we live in unprecedented times. Internal conflicts are driving insecurity worldwide, and the effects of the climate crisis and other global conflicts overshadow us. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has as complex a job today as it has at any time in the past century. In this debate, I wish to focus primarily on official development assistance spend for women, peace and security, and in the latter part of my speech on Sudan.
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15:07 Yasmin Qureshi (Labour)
This is not an abstract debate; this is about hardheaded UK security and prosperity. Democracy builds what military budgets cannot buy. Our long-term security and prosperity depend on accountable institutions, trusted Governments, transparency and inclusion. We need partners around the world who share our commitment to rights and the rule of law. Those are the countries in which we can invest with confidence. They are the partners on whom we rely to reduce conflict, tackle climate change and manage the pressures of energy costs and economic instability. If we do not step forward in this space, others will, and they will do so on their terms, not ours.
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Monica Harding (Liberal Democrat)
Even international climate finance, which has been rhetorically protected, could fall by nearly £3 billion, we are told by The Guardian . Programmes such as the biodiverse landscapes fund, the blue planet fund and the climate and ocean adaptation and sustainable transition programme are under threat, and support for Brazil’s Tropical Forest Forever Facility, which we co-designed, has yet to materialise. Intelligence chiefs have warned that the collapse of ecosystems like the Amazon and coral reefs will not just risk our climate obligations but trigger food shortages and unrest and lead to war reaching our shores.
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