Transparency data

Climate Diplomacy Fund summary 2022 to 2023

Published 30 March 2023

Overview

The purpose of the Climate Diplomacy Fund is to support delivery of climate diplomacy policy objectives. The fund reflects the importance of Climate Change in foreign policy priorities, as highlighted in the UK government’s Integrated Review. In 2021 the UK hosted COP26, and the 2022 to 2023 fund supported activities that helped deliver the Glasgow Pact, during the UK Presidency, which ran until November 2022, and objectives for COP27 in Sharm el Sheikh.

Objectives on Climate Diplomacy

The Climate Diplomacy Fund (CDF) is a non-ODA priority for the International Programme in 2022 to 2023. The objective of the CDF was to help deliver the Glasgow Pact following COP26, build the conditions for a successful outcome at COP27 and deliver Country Plans. In 2022 allocations were made by prioritising funding for regional events, SIDS, climate vulnerable countries, posts in Africa and smaller posts.

Activity was required to contribute to at least one of the Climate Change Policy Objectives:

1. Help deliver the Glasgow Climate Pact, ensuring successful outcomes at COP27

2. Deliver stronger sectoral action to accelerate transitions to clean growth in the global economy, or

3. Raise partner country ambition through increased national commitments (NDCs) and net zero targets

The projects help support these objectives in-country including raising awareness, inclusion and momentum around COP27. Projects range from supporting the transition to clean growth, empowering youth voices in the climate debate, to supporting green finance initiatives and tackling biodiversity loss. Policy outcomes against relatively small amounts of financing have been very positive across the board. Below is a sample of the projects that have been delivered in 2022 to 2023:

In Brazil, the CDF contributed to the decarbonisation of industries in the state of Minas Gerais, by supporting SENAI (National Service of Industrial Learning) to implement the Race to Zero commitments and stimulate the energy transition in the industrial sector. In partnership with SENAI and Energy Systems Catapult, Brazilian companies learned about energy and clean growth innovation from British experts from Imperial College London, University of Sheffield, and Aston University. In addition, it supported the Race to Zero campaign via high-level engagements on clean growth between British and Brazilian senior officials at a preparation event for the Clean Energy Ministerial (that will take place in 2024 in Brazil).

In Italy, the CDF delivered 2 bilateral dialogues between the UK and Italy on the Geopolitics of the Energy Transition, with a focus on critical minerals and electricity infrastructure: an invaluable platform for initiating the conversation with Italy on critical minerals, which will continue through 2023 towards Italy’s G7 Presidency in 2024. Italy has since joined the Critical Minerals Partnership. The fund will also support the delivery of two papers commissioned on the themes of critical minerals and industrial deep decarbonisation, seeking Italy’s endorsement of the IDDI.

In Turkey, the CDF supported a green finance event in Istanbul, which focused on the Climate Finance Accelerator (CFA) and convened projects, financiers, government and other financial institutions. The event promoted the CFA to a wider, relevant audience and following introductions made at the event, we were able to facilitate the first ‘embedding’ conversation over the future of the CFA in Turkey with the government.

In Mexico, a series of Clean Growth and Decarbonisation workshops to promote UK capabilities in sustainable water, waste and energy were funded. These workshops were linked to the Race to Zero campaign and were organized in conjunction with subnational governments as a way to strengthen relationships, generate dialogue amongst public and private sector and create awareness about the impact of climate change on infrastructure and energy. Since the workshops targeted industrial and manufacturing companies with the most water and energy usage, the embassy was able to pin point areas of opportunity for decarbonisation and water efficiency solutions.

In the US, our posts organised a ‘Transforming Agricultural Innovation Systems by 2030: The Agriculture Breakthrough’ session at the 2022 World Food Prize/Borlaug Dialogue in Iowa. The session helped amplify UK-US collaboration on sustainable agriculture R&D innovation to global audiences and illustrated the need to accelerate further climate action for food security through collective efforts across policy, markets, research, and innovation in the agriculture sector ahead of COP27. As part of the project activity, the British Consulate General in Houston jointly hosted an event with the Texas Caucus for Climate Energy and the Environment to engage the legislatures on Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage. The event showcased best practices from the UK private sector on the positive application of carbon capture technologies and explored collaborations on industrial decarbonisation policy.

In Monrovia, the CDF supported local NGO Liberian Youth for Climate Actions (LYCA) to hold a conference in October to discuss COP27 priority issues for Liberian youth, Over 200 young people from across Liberia, as well as key stakeholders and government officials, attended, with sessions raising awareness of Liberia’s global role on climate change, and what young people in Liberia could do to mitigate its impact both locally and globally.

In Ghana, the CDF supported the host government in developing a National Framework to govern and support carbon markets. In partnership with the Ghana’s Environmental Protection Agency, a workshop was hosted that presented and examined Ghana’s new Article 6 framework, brought market actors together, and generated recommendations for building a robust carbon market in Ghana.

In Kenya, the CDF supported Kenya’s Local Conference of Youth (LCOY) – the children and youth constituency of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Funding from CDF secured attendance by youth from various parts of the country, supported interactive virtual participation and leveraged support from other donors. Held under the theme ‘Leveraging Youth in Creating Sectoral Climate Impact,’ the outcome of the event allowed Kenya’s youth to actively participate in and fed recommendations into various COP27 deliberations.

In Mauritius, the CDF was focused on the impacts of climate change on food security by working with the Mauritius Institute of Directors to provide a platform to some 80 food producers, scientists, government officials, and entrepreneurs to rethink and transform agriculture and food systems in Mauritius. Participants shared valuable sources of information pertaining to food governance to address the climate crisis for the benefit of the business community. The CDF also supported coral farming to restore the degraded marine ecosystem at La Cambuse, thereby increasing the fish population in the lagoon to the benefit of the local community dependent on fishing. Fifty local fishermen and skippers benefitted from an awareness session on the importance of coral to preserve marine biodiversity. They were shown how to adapt their habits to preserve the coral reef. In the long run, the restored coral reef will act as a nature-based solution against sea level rise, one of the causes of beach erosion.

In Mali, the embassy partnered with the NDC Partnership Fund, UNDP, Sweden and the Malian Ministry of Environment, Sanitation and Sustainable Development and to bring together key climate stakeholders ahead of COP27. Over the course of the 2-day workshop, government and civil society representatives from Mali’s regions discussed priorities for climate action in Mali, particularly in relation to making progress on the implementation of Mali’s NDC. Key messages and recommendations were formulated for the Malian delegation at COP27.

In Azerbaijan, the CDF is helping Azerbaijan make more informed decisions about increasing its NDC and net zero target as well as fulfil international commitments through the ‘Climate Transparency Leadership Mentoring Programme’.  The programme is developing a generation of Azerbaijani climate transparency leaders across government to provide high quality reports on the situation in Azerbaijan over the next critical 5 to 10 years. This will influence policy and help the country to prepare and submit its 1st Biennial Transparency Report (BTR) by 31 December 2024 as per the UNFCCC requirement. By working with leaders from various government departments, the project ensures strong sectoral action to accelerate the transition to clean growth continues following COP27, and Azerbaijan fully engages with political commitments made at COP26 by devising action plans for delivery.

In Armenia, the CDF supported introduction of the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system. This is an environmental protection system, designed to decrease the total environmental impact of a product by making the manufacturer responsible for the entire life-cycle of that product. The forum served as a useful platform to raise awareness of UK best regulatory and policy practices for transforming waste management, understand lessons learned from the UK’s experience, connect Armenian stakeholders with the Environmental Services Association of UK, and help the Government of Armenia to create necessary legislative framework.

Climate Diplomacy fund budget for financial year 2022 to 2023

The non-ODA budget for the climate diplomacy fund is £0.8 million.