ActionAid UK reaction to UK pledge to Green Climate Fund (GCF) second replenishment, 10th September 2023
"We trust that the UK government’s announcement signals a renewed intent to avert climate catastrophe and protect the rights of communities on the front lines of the climate crisis. However, with recent contested reports that the government intends to withdraw from its 2019 commitment to double international climate finance to £11.6 billion, any newly designated funds must of course be viewed as part of a potentially diminished offer.
“Saving the planet will certainly not be achieved by a government shifting sums from one spreadsheet column to another, or by licensing hundreds of new oil and gas fields in the North Sea. It will require innovation, R&D, our very finest minds and huge investment. Recent extreme weather events show that the planet is fast approaching a critical moment for action if we want to slow global warming and achieve a sustainable future for our children. Kicking the can just slightly further down the road is not just delaying the process of meaningfully tackling the climate crisis, it is literally playing with fire – as communities from Kazakhstan to Greece, the US and Ecuador would attest as their homes burned this summer.
“More than ever our children need bold, visionary leaders prepared to take definitive action, backed by the serious investment required to protect their tomorrow. This will necessitate a frank national discussion about the existential need to achieve real progress in the fight for our future, and public acceptance of the costs that, ultimately, we will all have to share as taxpayers. As a country, we need to get comfortable with the serious money that tackling global climate change will require and the immediacy of the challenge, before it’s simply too late.”
ENDS.