In the recently launched White Paper on International Development, we set out our commitment to increasingly act ahead of crises - a shift towards prevention that will build resilience to climate change and other development challenges and protect the most vulnerable. As part of this, we committed that alongside our humanitarian spend we will scope a separate fund of up to 15% of our humanitarian provision to allow us to build resilience and adaptation alongside the delivery of humanitarian relief, to reduce the impact of future disasters, and help people directly affected to prepare and adapt.
We are also committed to targeting our climate work in fragile and conflict-affected countries in a way that addresses the causes of crisis, including through strategically addressing climate-related conflict drivers and vulnerability.
We will also take action to ensure that the use of the UK’s International Climate Fund in fragile and conflict affected countries is conflict sensitive, so that our work takes into account its impact on the causes and effects of conflict.
At COP 28 we also announced the following in line with the Declaration objectives:
- Launched a new UK-backed Centre for Access to Climate Finance to continue to raise the level of ambition and drive further action from climate finance providers and other stakeholders to organise finance behind country plans, and to build confidence that climate finance will be more easily accessible to the countries and communities who need it most.
- Welcomed Somalia as the newest pioneer country trialling a new approach to access to climate finance with support from the Taskforce on Access to Climate Finance. This trial will help build a knowledge base on challenges and solutions for countries with high humanitarian need when accessing climate finance.
- Launched Guidelines on Climate Resilient Development, to apply and develop lessons from their application in key affected countries, and to provide support to the UAE Presidency in the development of the Practice area of the Declaration.
- Increased funding for the Middle East and North Africa regional climate programme to provide support to up to 450,000 highly climate vulnerable people with improved climate resilience, to mobilise further investment on clean energy, climate and nature-based solutions, and to support over 200,000 women to advocate for climate action and access climate resources.
- Linked to Getting Ahead of Disasters: A Charter on Finance for Managing Risk provided increased support to the Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems (CREWS) which specifically targets support towards LDCs/SIDs to improve their use of early warning systems.
- As part of our commitment to tackle climate-related crises, increased our Disaster Risk Financing to help mitigate the costs of disasters, accelerate recovery and target funding in advance to rapidly reach the most vulnerable. This includes insurance support to both protect Somalia against drought risk, and to enable the Start Network to cover climate shocks more fully, and better prepare for the impacts of El Nino.
- Together with Canada, announced a new Research 4 Impact Hub, as part of the CLimate Adaptation and REsilience (CLARE) framework research programme. The Hub will support needs-driven, southern-led research, enabling partners in fragile and conflict-affected contexts to build the resilience of rural, urban, and displaced communities.
- Continued support to the Adaptation Research Alliance, to accelerate and scale investments in action-oriented research that addresses the adaptation and resilience needs of the most vulnerable, based on local needs and priorities.
- Continued support to the governments of Somalia, Chad, and policy makers in other affected countries, to develop evidence that supports climate resilient development though the Supporting Pastoralism & Agriculture in Recurrent & Protracted Crises programme (SPARC).