UK development minister Anneliese Dodds said that the country “urgently needs to do more” to improve resilience to the impacts of climate change.
Dodds was commenting following a meeting of government and business leaders in the UK ahead of COP29, which runs from 11 to 22 November in Baku, Azerbaijan. Recently appointed British prime minster Keir Starmer is expected to attend the conference.
Dodds, along with energy secretary Ed Miliband and environment secretary Steve Reed, hosted a series of roundtables last week to discuss topics including financing the transition to renewable energy, accelerating investment for projects improving climate resilience, and the global treaty to end plastic pollution.
‘Climate crisis’
“We need to build a global economy and infrastructure that can withstand the increasingly damaging impacts of the climate crisis,” Dodds commented. “This will require attention across the global financial system to unlock the private finance to reach the $387 billion needed.
“During our meeting with leaders across industry, civil society and academia we discussed how private investment in adaptation and resilience can demonstrate that genuine returns are possible. Our discussion sets the scene for COP29’s climate finance focus and builds confidence that together we can meet the scale of the challenge.”
The UK is hopeful that it can play a ‘leading role’ in securing an expanded climate finance goal at COP29, as well as unlocking more funding from the private sector and financial institutions to scale up climate change actions.
Leadership
Energy secretary Miliband said that the UK is “back in the business of climate leadership”, adding that the most effective way to protect future generations is to “make Britain a clean energy superpower, and the only way to protect our children and future generations is by leading global climate action.
“At COP29 […], we will work with other countries to step up ambition on tackling the climate crisis because the time for decisive action is now.”
Elsewhere, environment secretary Reed added that the world urgently needs “an ambitious international agreement to end plastic pollution by 2040, to promote a circular economy where we reduce waste and clean up our environment.” Read more here.
