International Development Committee to quiz Minister on climate finance
The International Development Minister will be questioned on plans to cut climate aid to developing countries as she appears before the International Development Committee.
MPs will also hear from public opinion and development experts on accountability, transparency, and public perceptions of climate finance in Tuesday’s evidence session.
The UK is a significant donor in the climate finance landscape, and the FCDO published its second iteration of the UK’s climate finance strategy in June 2026. This described climate finance as the “cornerstone of the global climate architecture”.
The Government has not formally announced its next five-year cycle for ICF running from 2026-27, but The Guardian has reported that there are plans to cut the ICF4 commitment to £9 billion - £2.6 billion lower than the ICF3 commitment.
Meeting details
The Minister will be asked when FCDO plans to announce the next five-year climate finance cycle and how it will ensure that cuts do not exacerbate existing or future humanitarian crises.
Baroness Chapman could be further quizzed on the role played by multilaterals in aggregating climate investments. She might also be pressed on claims that climate finance decision-making power remains top-down, favouring larger intermediaries over local organisations, despite FCDO policy commitments.
Elsewhere in the session, MPs will explore the risks of routing more climate finance through multilaterals and whether the UK could improve how it publishes and utilises climate finance data.
They will also dig into research that found that the public finds climate finance spending more compelling than other forms of overseas spending.