Experts warn slashing climate aid would be act of ‘self-harm’ for UK

Reports say funds to help poorer nations will would be cut from £11bn to £9.6bn over the next five years

Experts have warned that cutting climate finance for poorer countries would amount to an act of “self-harm” for Britain, after reports that the government plans to scale back support for nations on the frontline of the climate crisis by billions of pounds.

Gareth Redmond-King, head of the international programme at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, said the government’s own national security assessments suggested such a move would directly undermine UK interests.

“If true, the government’s own recent national security assessment would suggest such a move risks being an act of self-harm for the UK,” he said.

“We import two fifths of our food from overseas, much grown in countries being hit hardest by extremes of heat and flood. The UK’s climate finance helps farmers in these countries to adapt their farming to maintain both their livelihoods and our food security.”

The warning follows reports that ministers are planning to cut climate finance for developing countries by more than a fifth over the next five years. The Guardian reported that funding would fall from £11.6bn over the past five years to £9bn over the next five – a cut of around 40 per cent – despite earlier commitments by wealthy nations to scale up support as climate impacts intensify.

Campaigners said the proposed reduction would come at a moment when climate-related disasters are already placing growing strain on food systems, health services and economies across the global south, while also feeding risks that rebound onto wealthier countries.

A graph showing the warmest years on record (PA Wire)

Jennifer Larbie, head of UK advocacy and campaigns at Christian Aid, said slashing climate finance would be “another betrayal of the world’s most vulnerable”.

“People are already paying – in some cases with their lives – for a crisis they did not create,” she said. “This is short-sighted, dangerous, and must be reversed to protect people and the planet.”

Climate finance is intended to help poorer countries both cut emissions and adapt to worsening impacts such as extreme heat, floods and drought. Analysts warn that reducing that support risks deepening instability in regions already facing climate-driven shocks, increasing pressures from food price volatility, displacement and conflict.

The move comes at a time when the United States has withdrawn itself again from the Paris Agreement under Donald Trump, putting the global climate finance target into jeopardy and adding pressure onto other developed countries.

Redmond-King also warned that pulling back from climate finance would damage the UK’s international standing at a sensitive geopolitical moment.

“Reneging on commitments would damage trust in the UK’s position at a time when it has made real progress in cutting emissions and growing clean industries,” he said, adding that the longer-term risk was to Britain’s “relative power and influence around the world”.

He noted that China has been expanding its role in providing climate-related finance and infrastructure support to developing countries, raising concerns that UK retrenchment could leave space for rival powers to shape the rules and priorities of future climate action.

The reported cuts would come from the UK’s overseas aid budget, which has already been reduced in recent years. Plans to restructure the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) have also been met with pushback, with MPs arguing they could bring “catastrophic” consequences.

Critics argue that climate finance has increasingly been forced to compete with other priorities, even as scientific evidence shows that climate impacts are accelerating and becoming more unpredictable.

A report released this week warned that governments and investors are relying on economic models that fail to account for the scale and severity of the damage, as temperatures rise beyond 2C could trigger a global financial crash.

In response, a government spokesperson told The Independent: “The UK remains committed to providing International Climate Finance, playing our part alongside other developed countries and climate finance providers to deliver our international commitments. The UK is on track to deliver £11.6 billion in International Climate Finance by the end of this financial year.

“We are modernising our approach to ensure we focus on greater impact – ensuring every pound delivers for the UK taxpayer and the people we support.”

This article has been produced as part of The Independent’s Rethinking Global Aid project