The disclosure provoked fury from former ministers and representatives of vulnerable countries, who accused Rishi Sunak of making false promises.
A leaked briefing note to ministers, given to the Foreign Office and Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and seen by the Guardian, lays out reasons for dropping the UK’s contribution to meeting the global $100bn (£78.6bn) annual commitment to developing countries.
It says: “ Our commitment to double our international climate finance to £11.6bn was made in 2019, when we were still at 0.7% [of GDP spent on international aid] and pre-Covid.”
It adds that to meet the deadline would be a “huge challenge” because of new pressures, including help for Ukraine falling within the aid budget.
To meet the £11.6bn target by 2026, government officials have calculated that it would have to spend 83% of the total aid budget on the international climate fund. Civil servants said in the leaked document that this "would squeeze out room for other commitments such as humanitarian [aid] and [aid for] women and girls".
It also claimed that factors such as Ukraine and debt relief could make it even more difficult to meet the target. This is because the government has cut international aid spending to 0.5% of GDP since the announcement was made, and because ministers did not spend most of the money allocated to the climate fund over the past few years, leaving the majority to be funded by 2026.
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