Committees

International climate policy

Inquiry

Ahead of COP 30, where host country Brazil’s Presidency has set a strategic goal to transition from “negotiation to implementation”, the Committee is launching a call for evidence in a major new inquiry on UK climate policy and finance.  

Climate change is a global problem that requires a global response. The world is now experiencing the increasingly severe impacts of a rapidly heating climate with intense wildfires, severe droughts, and heavy rainfall leading to destructive floods more frequently and over a wider range.  

The 2015 Paris Agreement represented a significant moment of international coordination to reduce emissions and to adapt to climate change. But the UN recently announced that global action has failed to limit global heating to the 1.5 degrees agreed there.  

In 2022, the IPCC warned that “any further delay in concerted global action will miss a brief and rapidly closing window to secure a liveable future”.  

The UK became the first country in the world to make a legally-binding national commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions in The Climate Change Act 2008. In 2019 the UK was the first major economy to enshrine its commitment to Net Zero by 2050 in law.  

At COP 29 in Baku last year, the agreed target for climate finance flowing to developing countries was increased from $100 billion to at least $300 billion a year by 2035, with an aspiration for that to hit $1.3 trillion per year over the same period, in recognition of the scale of the challenge.  And in 2022, the latest data available, developed countries delivered around $116 billion – over that target - to developing countries for climate action.  

But the global political consensus on climate change, the financial sector’s commitment to action on climate and climate diplomacy have all been impacted by tensions and transformations in the global order. 

The UK Government has stated “there is no global stability without climate stability”, that the UK “must play its part by resetting at home and reconnecting abroad”, and has placed an emphasis on re-establishing the UK “as a climate leader on the global stage”.  It committed to meet the previous Government’s pledge of providing £11.6 billion in international climate finance between 2021 and 2026 - but beyond March 2026 the approach is unclear.  

Through this inquiry, the Committee intends to investigate how the Government can best demonstrate international leadership on climate policy.  

This inquiry is no longer accepting evidence

The deadline for submissions was 11:59pm on 7 January 2026.

Upcoming events

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Past events

Wednesday 8 July 2026
3:00pm Public
International climate policy - Oral evidence 8 July 2026
3:00pm
  • Richard Folland (Head of Capital Markets Policy at Carbon Tracker)
  • Professor Joeri Rogelj (Professor of Climate Science & Policy and Director of Research at the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London)
  • Dr Matt Webb (Associate Director for Global Clean Power Diplomacy at E3G)
  • Ana Yang (Director, Environment and Society Centre at Chatham House)
4:00pm
  • Katie White OBE MP (Minister for Climate at Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
  • Matt Toombs (Director for International Climate Finance and Strategy at Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
  • Rachel Kyte CMG (Special Representative for Climate at Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Grimond Room, Portcullis House
Tuesday 23 June 2026
3:00pm Public
International climate policy - Oral evidence 23 June 2026
3:00pm
  • Dr Neil Grant (Senior Expert – Mitigation pathways at Climate Action Tracker)
  • Dr Liyun Zhang (Research Fellow in Economics at University of Birmingham)
  • Professor Rowan Sutton (Director at Met Office Hadley Centre)
4:00pm
  • Catherine Pettengell (Executive Director at Climate Action Network UK (CAN-UK))
  • Rogier van den Berg (Global Director at WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities)
  • Eliot Whittington (Director at Corporate Leaders Groups)
The Thatcher Room, Portcullis House

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