Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to announce that the UK will commit at least £3 billion to climate change solutions that protect and restore nature and biodiversity over five years.
The funding will be allocated from the UK’s existing commitment of £11.6bn for international climate finance.
Programmes supported by the funding will include the Blue Planet Fund for marine conservation, projects to maintain forests and tackle the illegal timber trade and deforestation and initiatives to conserve habitats such as mangroves that protect communities from the impacts of climate change.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson will make the announcement at the One Planet Summit, a leader-level virtual event convened by France.
Ahead of the One Planet Summit, the Prime Minister commented: “We will not achieve our goals on climate change, sustainable development or preventing pandemics if we fail to take care of the natural world that provides us with the food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe.
“The UK is already leading the way in this area, committing to protect 30 percent of our land and ocean by the end of the decade and pledging at least £3bn today to supporting nature and biodiversity.
“We must work together as a global community to drive the ambitious change and investment we need to protect our shared planet and the glorious, rich and diverse life within it.”
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is also expected to announce that the UK will pledge up to £38 million to the Climate Compatible Growth programme, supporting developing countries’ transition to green energy.
The Dasgupta Review on the Economics of Biodiversity, an independent review commissioned by the Government in 2019 to set out the economic case for protecting biodiversity is also expected to be published next month.
