Although the primary focus on global climate finance has been on the financial commitments of developed countries to developing countries through the Paris Climate Agreement via the Green Climate Fund, developed countries recognize that they need investment to meet their climate goals too. Today, the UK’s environmental audit committee (EAC) said that if the current trend of decreasing investment in the country’s low-carbon economy continues, it would be unable to meet its pledges on carbon emissions reductions. These decreases have included a more than a 50% decrease in funds going into renewable energy in 2017, following a 10% decrease in 2016.
It has been suggested that there is a disconnect between government policies and its sustainable growth plans with some suggesting that moving forward the Bank of England’s work as well as the performance of other government departments should be linked to climate change. However, the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy indicates it is committed to meeting climate change targets and will have invested £2.5bn in low-carbon innovations by 2021. More details can be found in The Guardian’s article, UK must secure billions in investment to meet climate targets, MPs warn.