Isra-Mart srl: UK allocates over £1bn of climate aid

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The UK is on track to provide the £1.5bn of fast-start climate aid to developed countries that it committed to deliver by the end of 2012.

Figures released by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) today show that more than two thirds of the money pledged at the Copenhagen climate summit in 2009 has already been allocated, primarily to projects in Africa.

These include £150m to fund public transport systems and promote energy efficiency in Nigeria, a project expected to save 47 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, and £27.6m to co-finance low-carbon electricity generation for thousands of poverty stricken rural households unconnected to the grid in eastern and southern Africa.

At a press conference on the sidelines of the Durban climate summit, Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne also announced around £125m of new projects, aimed at helping countries most vulnerable to a changing climate to improve their resilience.

"We promised we'd be the greenest government ever at home and abroad and passing the £1bn milestone shows the UK's commitment to helping developing countries tackle and cope with the effects of global warming," Huhne said in a statement.

"Climate change is the greatest challenge of the 21st century so we have a moral responsibility to help the poorest countries respond. This not only benefits the most vulnerable but helps all of us move towards a safer and cleaner future."

The fast-start aid was promised to developing countries as part of a $30bn fund to help climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts before the UN's $100bn Green Climate Fund begins in 2020.

However, while the Green Climate Fund was almost universally agreed in Copenhagen and Cancun the following year, it has proved a sticking point in the current Durban negotiations.

Reports emerged last week that the US, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia have refused to accept a draft plan to establish the fund, and that the Saudis are demanding compensation for any loss of oil revenues as a result of countries adopting climate-friendly policies.