G20 Summit 2023: UK PM Rishi Sunak announces $2 billion Green Climate Fund

G20 Summit 2023: United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Sunday announced a record climate aid commitment as the G20 Summit in India nears its commencement, the British High Commission in India stated.

The UK will contribute USD 2 billion to the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the largest single funding commitment made by the UK to assist the world in combating climate change. The GCF was established by 194 countries following the Copenhagen Accord at COP15.

“Uplift makes a significant contribution towards the UK’s pledge to spend 11.6bn Pounds on international climate finance, cementing our global climate leadership. UK continues to show global climate leadership, having cut emissions faster than any other G7 country,” the British High Commission said.

This is the United Kingdom's single largest financial commitment to assisting the world's most vulnerable people in adapting to and mitigating the effects of climate change.

The GCF is the world's largest fund committed to assisting developing nations in reducing global emissions and assisting communities in adapting to the effects of climate change.

Today's pledge represents a 12.7% increase over the UK's previous contribution to the GCF for the 2020-2023 period, which was itself a doubling of our initial funding to establish the fund in 2014, according to the release.

At the G20 Summit, UK Prime Minister Sunak urged leaders to work together ahead of the COP28 Summit in December to cut their countries' carbon emissions while also assisting vulnerable economies in dealing with the implications of climate change.

“The UK is stepping up and delivering on our climate commitments, both by decarbonising our own economy and supporting the world’s most vulnerable to deal with the impact of climate change," Sunak said while addressing G20.

 “This is the kind of leadership that the world rightly expects from G20 countries. And this government will continue to lead by example in making the UK, and the world, more prosperous and secure."