The UK exceeded its pledge to provide £11.6bn in climate finance to developing countries between 2021-22 and 2025-26, but around £2.1bn of the £12.8bn counted towards the goal came from existing spending reclassified as climate aid, according to a Carbon Brief analysis based on information obtained through freedom of information requests.
Without those accounting changes, UK climate finance over the five-year period would have totalled about £10.7bn, leaving a £924m shortfall, the analysis found. The government has announced that it met the target but has not published full details of the spending or the overall total for the period.
The UK pledged the £11.6bn as its contribution to international climate finance under the Paris Agreement. The analysis says the government broadened its criteria in 2023, allowing it to count some existing funding without increasing spending on new climate projects. The current Labour government has retained the approach while planning further cuts to foreign aid.
The largest change involved counting a share of core funding for multilateral development banks, adding £1.1bn to the total. A further nearly £600m came from automatically classifying 30% of humanitarian aid to countries deemed highly vulnerable to climate change as climate finance. Some of the projects involved had no clear connection to climate change, the analysis says.
The government also counted a larger share of investments made by British International Investment as climate finance. Carbon Brief estimates that this change added £266m over the five-year period, based on an earlier internal government forecast. The analysis also identifies £99m in spending related to hosting the COP26 climate summit.
The government says its accounting is consistent with internationally agreed methods used by other major donors. However, campaigners, MPs and the UK’s aid watchdog have criticised the changes, arguing they weaken the credibility and additionality of climate finance. International commitments are generally understood to require new funds on top of existing aid.
Sarah Champion, chair of the International Development Committee, said the findings reinforced concerns that the government had used questionable accounting to bridge a shortfall rather than deliver genuine climate and nature outcomes. A government spokesperson said the UK was proud to have met and exceeded its target and would continue prioritising climate finance in its aid budget.
For the next three years, the UK has pledged £6bn for climate projects from its foreign aid budget. That represents an average of £2bn a year, down from £4bn in 2025-26. Carbon Brief says the continued use of the accounting approach could account for around a third of the new target.
Sources: Carbon Brief.