The UK government has denied it is planning to drop its flagship £11.6 billion ($14.76 billion) climate and nature funding pledge ahead of Cop28, following a leaked report.
Rishi Sunak’s government is being accused of “moral bankruptcy” after a document given to the Foreign Office suggested it was on track to discard its international climate finance policy.
The Prime Minister was warned scrapping the promise would “echo around the world” and affect those most vulnerable to global warming.
Seen by The Guardian and the BBC, the document says: "Our commitment to double our international climate finance to £11.6 billion was made in 2019, when we were still at 0.7 [per cent of GDP spent on international aid] and pre-Covid."
Officials have calculated the government would have to spend 83 per cent of the Foreign Office’s development assistance budget on the international climate fund, the leaked report suggests. This “would squeeze out room for other commitments such as humanitarian and women and girls”, civil servants noted in the report.
The Foreign Office refuted the suggestions.
“Claims that the International Climate Finance pledge is being dropped are false,” a government representative said.
“As the Prime Minister set out at Cop27, the government remains committed to spending £11.6 billion on international climate finance and we are delivering on that pledge.
“We spent over £1.4 billion on international climate finance over the course of the 2021/22 financial year, supporting developing countries to reduce poverty and respond to the causes and impacts of climate change.
“We will publish the latest annual figures in due course.”
Mr Sunak's climate policies have come under scrutiny after international environment minister Zac Goldsmith resigned last week.
He attacked the Prime Minister's approach to environmental issues, saying the government was "uninterested". He said Britain had "visibly stepped off the world stage and withdrawn our leadership on climate and nature".
Mr Goldsmith on Wednesday suggested any U-turn would "be seen as an act of betrayal on a profound level and will cause us irreparable reputational harm".
The peer in the House of Lords, the upper chamber of the British Parliament, said the fact the pledge had been made consistently by Mr Sunak and his predecessors Liz Truss and Boris Johnson "adds to a sense that the UK is no longer a reliable partner".
"Our competitors will be licking their lips," he said, adding that the Sunak administration "must keep this promise, or be made to".
In a further blow to Mr Sunak's green agenda, Britain's advisers on the Climate Change Committee (CCC) also last week said the nation had lost its position as a global leader on environmental action. The committee said ministers were not taking the robust action needed to meet the 2050 net-zero target.
The CCC found the UK was failing in improving energy efficiency in buildings, introducing eco-friendly heat pumps in homes, curbing emissions from industry and increasing the rate of tree planting, which must double by 2025 to help meet the goals.
Cop26 president and Conservative MP Alok Sharma said he hoped the latest reports were inaccurate.
“So hope the government is not planning to drop its climate finance pledge to some of the most climate vulnerable countries in the world,” he wrote on Twitter.
“I was at the UN when Boris Johnson made this commitment – to spontaneous applause. It was a proud moment for the UK.”
Green MP and former party leader Caroline Lucas said if the UK backtracked on its commitment, it would be seen as a betrayal of poor nations.
“The UK is one of the world’s richest countries and we’re really going to tell our kids we can’t ‘afford’ to pay for a liveable planet for them?” she wrote on Twitter. “And we’re going to betray some of the poorest countries? This Govt’s moral bankruptcy is truly sickening.”
Shadow cabinet minister Preet Kaur Gill said of the leaked report: “Unsurprising to anyone following UK development policy, but no less shocking. This was meant to deliver on a 14 year old promise to the world’s poorest and most vulnerable countries. Yet another broken promise that will echo around the world.”
Friends of the Earth campaign group said it would be “awful” if Britain tore up ditched its International Climate Finance promise.
But Richard Tice, leader of the Reform UK party and a former MEP, lambasted the policy and said it would be best for Mr Sunak to forget it.
In a message posted on social media, he said: “Let's hope for once, Rishi does sensible thing and drop this absurd pledge which is waste of our cash and make zero difference to natural climate change.”
Mr Tice said an “obsession with net zero” is making [the] UK poorer and colder”.
Pakistan Super League
Previous winners
2016 Islamabad United
2017 Peshawar Zalmi
2018 Islamabad United
2019 Quetta Gladiators
Most runs Kamran Akmal – 1,286
Most wickets Wahab Riaz –65
What is the definition of an SME?
SMEs in the UAE are defined by the number of employees, annual turnover and sector. For example, a “small company” in the services industry has six to 50 employees with a turnover of more than Dh2 million up to Dh20m, while in the manufacturing industry the requirements are 10 to 100 employees with a turnover of more than Dh3m up to Dh50m, according to Dubai SME, an agency of the Department of Economic Development.
A “medium-sized company” can either have staff of 51 to 200 employees or 101 to 250 employees, and a turnover less than or equal to Dh200m or Dh250m, again depending on whether the business is in the trading, manufacturing or services sectors.
More coverage from the Future Forum
Dengue%20fever%20symptoms
%3Cp%3EHigh%20fever%20(40%C2%B0C%2F104%C2%B0F)%3Cbr%3ESevere%20headache%3Cbr%3EPain%20behind%20the%20eyes%3Cbr%3EMuscle%20and%20joint%20pains%3Cbr%3ENausea%3Cbr%3EVomiting%3Cbr%3ESwollen%20glands%3Cbr%3ERash%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
FROM%20THE%20ASHES
%3Cp%3EDirector%3A%20Khalid%20Fahad%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EStarring%3A%20Shaima%20Al%20Tayeb%2C%20Wafa%20Muhamad%2C%20Hamss%20Bandar%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERating%3A%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
How to register as a donor
1) Organ donors can register on the Hayat app, run by the Ministry of Health and Prevention
2) There are about 11,000 patients in the country in need of organ transplants
3) People must be over 21. Emiratis and residents can register.
4) The campaign uses the hashtag #donate_hope
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
The specs: 2018 Mercedes-Benz E 300 Cabriolet
Price, base / as tested: Dh275,250 / Dh328,465
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder
Power: 245hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 370Nm @ 1,300rpm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.0L / 100km
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
How%20to%20avoid%20getting%20scammed
%3Cul%3E%0A%3Cli%3ENever%20click%20on%20links%20provided%20via%20app%20or%20SMS%2C%20even%20if%20they%20seem%20to%20come%20from%20authorised%20senders%20at%20first%20glance%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3EAlways%20double-check%20the%20authenticity%20of%20websites%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3EEnable%20Two-Factor%20Authentication%20(2FA)%20for%20all%20your%20working%20and%20personal%20services%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3EOnly%20use%20official%20links%20published%20by%20the%20respective%20entity%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3EDouble-check%20the%20web%20addresses%20to%20reduce%20exposure%20to%20fake%20sites%20created%20with%20domain%20names%20containing%20spelling%20errors%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3C%2Ful%3E%0A
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
About RuPay
A homegrown card payment scheme launched by the National Payments Corporation of India and backed by the Reserve Bank of India, the country’s central bank
RuPay process payments between banks and merchants for purchases made with credit or debit cards
It has grown rapidly in India and competes with global payment network firms like MasterCard and Visa.
In India, it can be used at ATMs, for online payments and variations of the card can be used to pay for bus, metro charges, road toll payments
The name blends two words rupee and payment
Some advantages of the network include lower processing fees and transaction costs
