Policy Updates

On 23 September, 2024, the UK FCDO Minister David Lammy called for reform of the multilateral system at the UN Summit of the Future in New York.

Lammy noted that the Summit for the Future provided a chance for Member States to demonstrate responsible global leadership and ensure everyone’s needs are met, especially the most vulnerable.

Lammy proposed:

• Greater collective actions to prevent and end conflict, more significant support for international rule of law, and a more representative Security Council;
• Urgent action on the climate and nature crisis – here, he referenced the need to build a Global Clean Power Alliance; and
• Modernizing the approach to development to move away from a paternalistic attitude to one based on partnership and putting Indigenous people and local communities, including women and girls, at the center of decision-making on development programs.

On 20 September 2024, 71 UK CSOs, faith groups, and international development and climate NGOs wrote a public letter to the UK Prime Minister calling for increased ambition on international climate finance and domestic action at UNGA and COP 29.

The groups' called for the UK Prime Minister to:

• Restore the UK's reputation, return UK ODA commitments to 0.7% ODA/GNI and reverse last year’s changes to the way ICF is counted;
• Champion a New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance that delivers the scale of public finance needed;
• Commit to providing future UK ICF that is new and additional by putting in place polluter pays measures to generate new public finance fairly; and
• Raise ambition with a UK 2035 Nationally Determined Contribution NDC that sets a new global benchmark commensurate with the:abbrUK’s responsibilities and the urgency to keep 1.5°C alive.

On September 17, 2024, the UK FCDO Minister David Lammy used his first major policy speech to highlight the importance of tackling climate and nature emergencies.

Lammy noted that while conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East have dominated his time, his primary focus will be tackling the most profound and universal threat to global order – the climate and nature emergency.

Lammy identified three key priorities moving forward:

• Building a Global Clean Power Alliance—This alliance will focus on scaling up global investment;
• Unlocking more climate and nature finance. Lammy noted that Africa is on the climate frontline yet receives just 3% of climate finance flows and debt services, accounting for an average of 10% of Africa’s GDP. Lammy will work to ensure London is a green global financial center, unlocking much-needed private sector flows and leading on international institutional reform; and
• Reverse the decline in global biodiversity by bolstering global efforts to protect 30% of the planet’s lands and oceans, securing an agreement on a Plastics Treaty, expanding successful development programs that protect biodiversity, and launching a new research program on water and nature.

Lammy concluded that there would be no global stability without climate stability.

On September 5, 2024, UK Minister for Africa Lord Ray Collins announced that the UK would be making a GBP25 million (US$30 million) investment in the African agri-sector to boost production and strengthen food security in the face of climate threats.

The minister announced the funding during his keynote speech at the AFSF in Rwanda. The funding will be allocated to AgDevCo, a UK-based African agribusiness investor. The funds will go towards its new US$50 million facility called AgDevCo Ventures. The new facility will focus on supporting small African agricultural enterprises, emphasizing African-owned and managed businesses.

The funding is expected to result in an increase in income of GBP128 million (US$153 million) for recipients by 2036.

On September 6, 2024, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy hosted a reception marking 75 years of the modern Commonwealth and called for the organization to focus on driving economic growth as well as tackling the climate crisis and education at its October Summit in Samoa.

Lammy noted that the UK considers a revived Commonwealth as vital to ensuring the government’s vision of reconnecting Britain with the world, calling on the family of nations to work together, draw on its diversity, and tackle the challenges of our time.

Lammy outlined that the Commonwealth should focus its attention on three key areas:

• Supporting economic growth: the combined GDP growth of the Commonwealth’s nations is expected to double from 2017 levels by 2027, and increasing investment flows are needed to take advantage of this. At the summit in Samoa, Lammy and other members will launch a comprehensive plan to boost investment and harness technology for all to enable shared and sustainable growth;
• Tackling the climate emergency: Lammy highlighted the need for coordinated action with partner countries to ensure a sustainable future for all. He emphasized the need to raise ambitions on the Climate Finance Access Hub and to do more to protect Small Island Developing States; and
• Boosting education: Lammy noted the importance of focusing on education. He emphasized the need to support more scholarships and learning amongst the Commonwealth nations, highlighting that 60% of the Commonwealth’s population are under 30 years old.

On August 16, 2024, outgoing CEO of the BII Nick O’Donohoe stated that the UK’s BII and other DFIs must not be distracted from their core purpose of tackling poverty.

O’Donohoe called for the scarce finance given to BII and other DFIs to not all be spent on combating climate change at the expense of delivering on all the SDGs. He noted that there is a tension facing many DFIs between the drive to increase spending on the green transition. The green transition involves making investments mainly in MICs in contrast to eliminating poverty and the need to deliver on the UN’s SDGs, which requires a focus on low- and lower-middle-income countries.

In the UK, O’Donohoe noted that the current development strategy calls on BII to make 50% of its investments in the poorest and most fragile countries while simultaneously calling for BII to be the leading DFI in climate finance. He highlighted this tension in the objectives for BII would be the biggest issue his successor will face.

On August 7, 2024, BOND, the UK platform for international development NGOs, released its analysis of the FCDO’s annual accounts for FY2023/24 and confirmed a significant increase in spending on ODA from the FCDO in FY2023/24.

Excluding spending on the CSFF, FCDO’s ODA spending on programs increased just over a quarter, from GBP6.9 billion (US$8.3 billion) in FY2022/23 to GBP8.7 billion (US$10.4 billion) in FY2023/24. The split between ODA and non - ODA in the CSFF was not reported in FY2022/23.

BOND asserted that regional and bilateral spending fell in FY2023/24 by 3%, while FCDO spending on core multilateral programs increased by 79% in FY2023/24. FCDO spending also increased on climate, health, international financial institutions, and BII. FCDO spending, however, decreased in the education, gender and equality, and humanitarian, migration, and food security departments.

Looking ahead, BOND calculated that the FCDO’s overall spending, not limited to ODA, for FY2024/25 will be GBP11.8 billion (US$14.2 billion), representing a reduction of GBP552 million (US$661 million), or 4.4%, compared to the previous government’s plans for FCDO spending in FY2024/25. The overall reduction is attributed to the continued high levels of ODA spending on refugees in the UK as well as the fact that the UK ODA budget is currently expected to return to 0.5% ODA/GNI in 2024 after reaching 0.6% ODA/GNI in 2023.

BOND observed that the revised FCDO spending plans for FY2024/25 will see an increase in bilateral and central programs, but a cut in core multilateral programs. Spending on FCDO operating costs, frontline diplomacy, and overseas network will remain at similar levels.

On July 26, 2024, UK Secretary for Energy, Security, and Net Zero Ed Miliband confirmed that the UK government will honor the former government’s GBP11.6 billion (US$13.9 billion) climate pledge.

The confirmation was made at a meeting hosted by Ed Miliband at Lancaster House in London, with ministers from Azerbaijan and Brazil, Mukhtar Babaye and Ana Toni, which will lead COP29 and COP30, respectively. Also present was the former UK President of COP26 Alok Shama, from the Conservative government. The two future COP presidents separately met with King Charles III, who held an event for businesses and climate advocates.

Miliband noted that the UK must lead by example and that the commitment sent a powerful sign to the world that the UK is serious about leading efforts on global climate action. Experts have noted that meeting the pledge could be difficult, given that the ICAI noted recently that 55% of the pledge remained to be spent.

On July 25, 2024, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy attended the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Lao PDR, where he announced a new GBP25 million (US$30 million) health partnership with ASEAN.

The health security fund is aimed at detecting and preventing future diseases, supporting security in the region and the UK. Lammy also launched a new UK - ASEAN Green Transition Fund worth up to GBP40 million (US$48 million) and noted his aims to boost green growth and leverage UK expertise.

The UK has been an official ASEAN Dialogue Partner since 2021, which gives it a seat at the table. The visit also focused on strengthening economic and security ties with the region.

On July 18, 2024, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, during the European Political Community Summit, announced that the UK would work with the 'Global South' to tackle irregular migration, committing GBP84 million (US$108 million) over the next three years to address the drivers of irregular migration in Africa and the Middle East.

The funding is slated to work to improve education and employment opportunities as well as help to build resilience to global shocks like conflict and climate change, which are two of the leading causes of irregular migration.

Funding which will come from the UK’s ODA budget includes:

• GBP13 million (US$15 million) to expand Migration for Development programs in North and East Africa;
• GBP21 million (US$25 million) in support for key host and transit countries, including Libya, Ethiopia, Egypt, and Chad provided via multilateral channels;
• GBP26 million (US$31 million) for the Middle East and the wider region to support Syrian refugees; and
• GBP24 million (US$29 million) in direct funding to support communities in Sudan, Chad, and Ethiopia.