Today’s announcement by the Prime Minister is pure smoke and mirrors – a cynical accounting trick to grab headlines while refusing to act meaningfully on climate action.
Commenting on the announcement that the UK will pledge £1.6bn in climate finance, Zahra Hdidou, Senior Climate and Resilience Advisor, ActionAid UK said:
“Today Rishi Sunak announced a bold new ‘era of action’ on climate as he ushers in billions of pounds of funding that is neither new nor additional, but a reheated pledge from years gone by. And in setting out an ambition to turbocharge private sector involvement in climate action, the Prime Minister is once again raiding the already depleted ODA budget to subsidise its ideological objectives.
“While of course we welcome the UK’s £316m in funding towards renewables for countries in the Global South, the UK’s domestic policies in opening a hundred new oil and gas licenses completely undermine this commitment and directly harms women and girls on the frontline of climate disasters across the world.
“Today’s announcement by the Prime Minister is pure smoke and mirrors – a cynical accounting trick to grab headlines while refusing to act meaningfully on climate action.”
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Contact the ActionAid UK press office on uk.media@actionaid.org or on 07753 973 486.
Zahra Hdidou, Senior Climate and Resilience Adviser at ActionAid UK, is in Dubai for the summit for both weeks and available for comment on request. Please contact the press office to arrange.