Climate change is a current reality

In my role as the United Kingdom’s International Development Secretary, I’ve met people around the world who are living with the consequences of climate change – from families in Bangladesh forced to leave their flooded homes to farmers in northern Nigeria who are being forced further south due to desert encroachment. These people are the […]

In my role as the United Kingdom’s International Development Secretary, I’ve met people around the world who are living with the consequences of climate change – from families in Bangladesh forced to leave their flooded homes to farmers in northern Nigeria who are being forced further south due to desert encroachment. These people are the least responsible for climate change, yet they are already the most affected by it. As we look to the future, it is clear that climate change will increasingly hit poor people the hardest.

By 2020, some countries across Africa could see the yields from rain-fed agriculture fall by a half. By 2035, the Himalayan glaciers, which provide water for up to 750 million people across Asia, could disappear. By 2080, an extra 400 million people could be exposed to the threat of malaria.

Climate change threatens to make poverty the future for millions of people. That is why the government of the United Kingdom believes that the world has not only a common interest, but also a moral responsibility to people in the most vulnerable countries to secure a fair deal on climate change.

To keep global temperature rise below two degrees centigrade will mean nothing less than a 50 per cent reduction in global emissions by 2050 compared to 1990 levels. This will require a firm commitment from rich nations to significant cuts in emissions – for developed countries do bear the greatest responsibility for the emissions we have seen over the past century. A deal will also need to involve developing countries – because the greatest growth in emissions over coming decades will be in such countries.

At the same time, we must agree to a strong deal on climate finance to help developing countries to adapt to the now-inevitable effects of climate change and get their economies on a low-carbon path to growth.

The British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has led the way in calling for around $100 billion per year by 2020 – drawn from a combination of public finance and carbon markets — to help developing countries to develop clean energy, adapt to the effects of climate change and protect forests.

Some of this climate finance can legitimately come from official development assistance where investment helps to fight poverty and tackle climate change. But a ceiling should be placed on the proportion of development assistance that goes towards climate funding.

Without such a commitment, there is a risk that governments will divert a large proportion of aid budgets to fulfil their commitments on climate change, diverting money away from healthcare, education and humanitarian assistance. We cannot allow a choice to exist between fighting poverty and tackling climate change, and that is why the UK has set a limit of up to ten per cent of development assistance that can be invested in climate funding.

The UK government support through initiatives such as the Global Environment Fund and Clean Technology Facility is already helping communities to tackle climate change and lift them out of poverty. UK’s assistance to power sector reform is helping Nigeria to develop cleaner energy solutions and to reduce its dependency on high carbon diesel generators.  

Prior to the Copenhagen meetings, we also provided support to ensure that developing countries like Nigeria have a strong, coherent voice at the table. The UK has commissioned research to support policymakers in Nigeria and other key partner countries on the likely scale and full range of potential climate impacts. The ongoing talks represent not a window of opportunity, but a window of necessity in our efforts to strike a climate deal to protect the lives and livelihoods of this and future generations.

Douglas Alexander is of DFID.