UK climate aid cuts ‘short-sighted’ and leave ‘fossil fuel profits untouched’, campaigners say

“We in the Global South are being forced to foot the bill for a catastrophe we did not cause, while the very nation that built its wealth on the carbon of the Industrial Revolution strips away the healthcare, clean water, and education that the world's most vulnerable need to survive it,” he told The Independent.

"You cannot claim to be a 'climate leader' while simultaneously withdrawing the lifelines required for our adaptation and survival," he added.

Critics said the framing also obscured the scale of what was being lost, especially in terms of the threats it poses to the UK’s long-term interests.

"It is clear that climate finance has, to some extent, been protected as a priority within the overseas development assistance budget — it is now a larger proportion of a shrinking overall pot," said Gareth Redmond-King, head of the international programme at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit think tank.

"However, cutting that budget at a time of such intense global upheaval goes against the warnings from the government's own national security advisers and food experts, who all warn of the growing threats to our security and stability from the climate crisis."

"We import two fifths of our food from overseas, and worsening climate change impacts hitting farmers at home and abroad are leading to shortages and higher prices on our supermarket shelves," he said.

"Supporting the poorest nations' efforts to cut emissions and adapt to climate change is also an investment in UK national security."

The government said 70 per cent of all geographic support would be allocated to the most fragile and conflict-affected states by 2028-29, with funding protected for Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan and Lebanon. Some women and girls programmes and current global health commitments – including to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and the Global Fund – were also protected. It was previously announced that commitments to both Gavi and the Global Fund will fall by 24 per cent and 15 per cent respectively.

ActionAid UK said the women and girls pledge rang hollow without new funding to back it up. "We're pleased to see the Foreign Secretary acknowledge that women and girls disproportionately bear the brunt of poverty, violence and conflict by promising to make them a priority — but without backing up this pledge with increased long-term funding, it rings hollow," said co-CEOs Hannah Bond and Taahra Ghazi.

"The announcement that international climate finance will be reduced is a huge betrayal for women and girls on the frontline of the climate crisis and of this government's own manifesto commitments on climate and gender equality — and comes at a time when urgent scaling up is needed as the frequency and scale of climate emergencies intensifies."

The £3bn earmark for nature and forest projects has also been scrapped without an equivalent replacement.

"The UK government has confirmed it has ditched the previous commitment to spending a third of this funding on nature," said Catherine Weller, global policy director at Fauna & Flora.