uk will provide only half its pledged Green Climate Fund contribution, losing its position as top donor and intensifying concerns over shrinking climate finance support for vulnerable developing nations.
The UK is no longer the largest contributor to the UN’s flagship Green Climate Fund after the government announced it would honour only half of its latest funding pledge, raising fears of wider cuts to climate aid from wealthy nations.
Amid broader reductions in climate assistance for developing countries, UK informed the Green Climate Fund in May that it intends to cut its commitment for the 2024-2027 period to £815 million, or about $1.1 billion.
The move sharply reduces a £1.62 billion pledge made by the previous Conservative government in 2023, which former prime minister Rishi Sunak’s administration had described as “the biggest single funding commitment the UK has made to help the world tackle climate change”.
That earlier “record” commitment had elevated the UK to the position of top donor to the Green Climate Fund after the administration of US President Donald Trump withdrew $4 billion in pledged US funding in 2025.
UK has now followed the United States in becoming the second major donor to cancel a significant portion of promised funding, fuelling concerns among aid experts that other developed countries could take similar steps.
Photo: Collected
The reduction means the UK’s total past and pledged contributions to the fund have fallen behind those of Germany, France and Japan.
The Green Climate Fund is the largest dedicated UN climate financing mechanism and is widely viewed as a crucial source of grant-based support for developing nations facing climate impacts. It currently oversees more than $20 billion in funding across 354 projects and programmes.
Under the Paris Agreement, developed countries including the UK are required to provide climate finance to poorer nations. One of the main channels for delivering this support is through specialised climate funds such as the Green Climate Fund.
Despite repeated commitments by governments to increase climate financing over time, growth in contributions to the fund between replenishment rounds has remained slow.
The UK had been among the countries increasing its contribution during the latest replenishment round in 2023 compared with the previous round in 2019. However, the latest decision means Britain will now provide around 45 percent less funding than during the 2019 cycle.
Apart from the United States, this marks the steepest reduction between funding rounds by any major donor country.
In an email to the Green Climate Fund board reported by the Financial Times, the fund’s executive director Mafalda Duarte warned that the UK’s decision was “expected to have a material impact on the delivery” of projects supported by the fund.
According to the newspaper, Duarte said the reduction came as Britain cuts its wider aid budget in order to “invest more in addressing growing security threats”.
In March, the UK government announced plans to spend “around £6 billion” from its aid budget on climate-related projects in developing countries over the next three years.
