MPs call on government to increase international climate funding

The UK government must increase spending on climate-change initiatives in the developing world and provide explicit assurances that any new funding will be provided on top of existing aid budgets, according to a new report today from a cross-party committee of MPs.

The report from the International Development Committee comes amid UN-backed talks in Bonn, where officials are this week discussing how climate change adaptation and clean technology transfer initiatives in the developing world should be funded.

It argues that the UK government has an obligation to provide funding for developing countries as part of any deal agreed in Copenhagen later this year and should make its commitment to climate change funding clearer.

"Developing countries have not caused climate change and yet many are already suffering from its impact," said committee chairman Malcolm Bruce MP. "These countries are also struggling against poverty and it is vital that money which donors have already pledged for poverty reduction is not diverted. The government needs to make clear its commitment to the principle of new and predictable funding support for tackling climate change in developing countries. "

The report also argues that while the Department for International Development (DfID) has undertaken some successful climate change projects, it needs to do more to ensure climate change considerations are incorporated into all its projects.

Somewhat controversially, the report argues that measures to curb emissions that could damage economic development in poorer countries, such as limiting tourist travel or reducing demand for air freighted produce, should be avoided.

It recommends that any efforts to limit demand for long-haul flights should be structured to avoid impacting developing world tourist destinations and argues that attempts to limit demand for developing world produce is often based on misconceptions.

"There is a danger that steps taken by consumers in the UK to reduce their contribution to carbon emissions may lead them to avoid buying produce from developing countries in the belief that air-freighted food and flowers have a higher carbon footprint - this is not true," said Bruce. "The CO2 emissions from Kenyan flowers flown to the UK are nearly six times lower than those from Dutch flowers grown in heated greenhouses."

The DfID welcomed the report. "We know that climate change and natural resources need to be central in our work to reduce poverty and achieve sustainable development in both the short and long term," a department spokesman said. "We recognise the need to go further and faster to embed climate change into our work."