UK aid and climate change

In its 2026 “modern development approach”, the UK Government said that helping people to adapt to climate change and halting and reversing nature loss were one of its four priorities in its international development work. However, UK aid for climate and related areas is expected to fall as aid spending is reduced to 0.3% of gross national income (GNI) by 2027.

This briefing sets out the potential effects of climate change on global development goals, such as poverty and water security. It then discusses the government’s strategies on aid and climate change, and the value of UK aid.

How will climate change affect development?

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a UN body that publishes regular reports summarising the science of climate change.

In 2022, the IPCC said that “under all emission scenarios”, climate change will “limit choices and opportunities for sustainable development” and that it will increase the threat of “poverty traps and food insecurity”, as well as water insecurity. It said that the effects of climate change will be “unevenly distributed” and they will “exacerbate inequality”, including for vulnerable and minority groups such as women and girls, older people, and indigenous peoples. Countries vulnerable to climate change are often also the most vulnerable to debt distress, and climate change may exacerbate this.

There is no single list of countries that are most vulnerable to climate change, but organisations such as Notre Dame University, the World Bank and German Watch have developed rankings of climate vulnerability.

What are the UK’s climate aid priorities?

In its “modern development approach”, published in July 2026, the UK Government said that a “fundamental part of our moral purpose” is “to support those trapped in crises caused by conflict or climate change”.

The government is prioritising four themes as aid is reduced from 0.5% of GNI to 0.3% from 2025 to 2027. Climate and nature is one of the four priority areas, alongside global health, humanitarian aid and economic growth. Under the climate and nature theme, the government says it will use UK aid, expertise, private finance and other tools to “promote green and resilient growth; support people to build resilience and adapt to climate impacts; and halt and reverse nature loss”. It also published a climate finance strategy.

Prioritising climate change in UK aid spending echoes the position of Conservative governments. Addressing climate change and biodiversity loss was one of the priorities for UK aid in the 2022 international development strategy. The 2023 white paper on international development also said the government would be going “further [and] faster” to mobilise climate finance.

From 2023, all new bilateral UK aid is intended to be aligned with the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. Bilateral aid is aid directed to specific countries and programmes, and the pledge would mean that, for example, aid will contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

How much UK aid is spent on climate change?

There is no specific data for UK aid spending on climate change. This is because the climate theme is cross cutting in reporting rules agreed within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

However, the UK does report its levels of “development finance for climate and environment” to the OECD (this is not the same as “international climate finance”). According to OECD data, the UK provided around £23.4 billion in aid from 2015 to 2024 for projects either mitigating or adapting to the effects of climate change. This included £3.8 billion in 2024. In 2024, the UK was the fourth-largest donor of climate-related aid globally.

The US$300 billion climate finance goal

In 2009, developed countries committed to providing US$100 billion annually in international climate finance (ICF) by 2020 to help developing countries respond to, and mitigate the effects of, climate change. ICF can be issued as loans, grants or export credits. The goal was met for the first time in 2022.

The goal has now been superseded by a $300 billion goal, agreed at the UN climate conference, COP 29, in 2024, which donor governments intend to meet by 2035. In 2024, ICF from donor governments totalled $137 billion.

In 2019, the UK pledged £11.6 billion in ICF from 2021/22 to 2025/26. All funding came from the aid budget, and in 2026 the government confirmed that it had met the target. The majority was provided in the form of grants, not loans.

In 2026, the government has pledged £6 billion in climate finance from public sources from 2026/27 to 2028/29, and to mobilise a further £6.7 billion from other sources. Like in the previous round, UK ICF will be evenly split between supporting adaption and mitigation. Some of the funding will be provided as loans to fund other public spending commitments.