Rishi Sunak promised to deliver on Britain’s climate finance promises as he addressed the COP27 climate summit — despite the bleak economic scene facing him back home.
Taking to the stage in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, the recently picked U.K. leader said the pandemic “all but broke” the global economy, but insisted the U.K. would deliver on its commitment of £11.6 billion in climate finance — and triple funding on adaptation to £1.5 billion by 2025.
The U.K. has signed up to a number of funding packages aimed at supporting poorer countries that are more exposed to climate change, both through mitigating its effects and paying toward initiatives to reduce carbon emissions. But the U.K.’s commitment to climate finance has been questioned after POLITICO reported it had failed to pay more that $300 million promised to two key funds.
Sunak, whose government is searching for spending cuts back home after a disastrous budget by his predecessor Liz Truss hiked borrowing costs, said providing climate finance was “the right thing to do” not just from a moral standpoint but in order to bolster energy security in Britain and around the world.
He cited Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “abhorrent war in Ukraine” and rising energy prices, arguing they were “not a reason to go slow on climate change — they are a reason to act faster.”
Pressed earlier by reporters on the timeframe for meeting Britain’s pledges, Sunak said the plan had been to deliver the £11.6 billion over five years and “the exact pace” was “dependent on the projects being ready at the right time, but we remain committed to those plans.”
After being late to confirm he would appear at COP27, Sunak has also been forced to share the limelight with his former boss, Boris Johnson.
The British ex-PM told the climate conference he was “the spirit of Glasgow,” referring to the COP conference last year in Scotland, which took place on his watch.
Targeting some skeptics in his own Conservative Party, Johnson warned: “This is not the moment to abandon the campaign for net zero and turn our backs on renewables.”
Asked if Sunak shared that view, his spokesman said the PM’s attendance in Egypt demonstrated the high importance he attaches to tackling climate change.
