BYM tells PM to back climate promises
‘It is also in the UK’s enlightened self interest to prevent further climate breakdown.’
Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) has called on Rishi Sunak to keep his promises on climate finance. BYM joined ninety-one other organisations in writing to the prime minister to ask him to stand by his commitment to a £11.6bn climate finance fund.
‘Climate finance is a vital component of the Paris Agreement,’ the letter says, ‘without which limiting the rise in global temperature to 1.5C will not be possible.’ It is not ‘a handout’, it goes on, ‘but a debt we owe to countries and communities that have been made vulnerable to climate change, while the UK has benefited from burning fossil fuels.’
‘It is also in the UK’s enlightened self interest to prevent further climate breakdown,’ signatories from across civil society, including WWF, Action Aid and Christian Aid, add.
The pledge to protect vulnerable countries from climate damage was supposed to be spent over five years between April 2021 and March 2026. But BYM said that the government has provided so little of the funding that reaching the £11.6bn target is ‘next to impossible’. Meanwhile, according to The Guardian, a leaked briefing note to government ministers lays out reasons for dropping the pledge. The Labour party has also refused to commit to the climate funding should it win the next general election.
BYM said that agreements that rich countries would provide billions to help the developing world slash fossil fuel emissions, and cope with climate emergencies, have been repeatedly broken since 2009.
Projects already funded include protecting forests, constructing renewable energy facilities, and enabling low-carbon city planning.
Paul Parker, recording clerk for BYM, said: ‘Our planet has limited resources. Those who are experiencing the worst effects of climate breakdown have done the least to cause it. This is morally wrong.
‘It’s time for the UK to contribute our fair share of emissions cuts and finance. Quakers see all people as equally precious in the eyes of God.’
He urged the government to lay out concrete plans for how the £11.6bn commitment would be met, without taking money from other overseas development areas, such as humanitarian aid.
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