Climate change and nature loss are two of the defining challenges of our times, and it is vitally important that we close the gap on action on climate change to deliver the 1.5 degree target and to halt and reverse biodiversity loss.
These objectives are central to the UK’s approach to International Development, as set out in the Integrated Review, the Strategic Framework 2030, and will likely be central to the new White Paper on International Development which is being developed at the moment. In tandem, the UK has committed to spend £11.6bn on International Climate Finance over the next five years.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has a number of mechanisms in place to ensure climate considerations are central to all programming – including the Programme Operating Framework (PrOF) and its specific rule, PrOF Rule 5, which is designed to ensure all programming, whether bilateral or regional, is compliant with the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, i.e. in line with countries’ NDCs and delivering their NDCs or their NAPs.
British Expertise International (BEI) is home to some of the FCDO’s key delivery partners. Our member organisations are each continuously innovating to ensure that their approaches to international development programming take these considerations into account.
DT Global identify three key areas where they can deliver the biggest impact on climate change remediation through their work: shaping existing programme activities to recognise and facilitate climate change adaptation mitigation; enhancing programme delivery through further investment; and capitalising on their stakeholder engagement to facilitate others in improving their own GHG reductions or adapting to a changing environment.
Integrity Global have a three-pillar approach to ensure they maximise the benefits of their work across climate change mitigation and adaptation. This includes supporting community resilience; supporting partners and clients in identifying and addressing evidence gaps as well as understanding impacts; and tackling the climate related drivers of conflict and instability.
Crown Agents have deliberately nested their Climate, Energy and Sustainability team within the Governance and System Strengthening cluster. Because so many of the climate challenges require whole systems solutions, their team's role is to consider how to best work with government partners to address climate change as a way of safeguarding and accelerating progress towards the SDGs.
These were just some of the insights from this week’s event on Intersections with Climate Change in International Development, and we look forward to future events in this series.
BEI members can watch the recording here.
- Alexandra (Sasha) Barnes, Programme Director - Climate and Infrastructure
