COP 29: The UK just committed to $300bn a year in foreign climate aid

Last weekend, the performative circus that was COP 29 concluded, with a deal being struck that will see developed nations, including the UK, commit to providing $300 billion of funding per year to developing nations, to help them transition to renewable sources of fuel and fight the impacts of climate change.

Despite the staggering sum of money committed, which represents a tripling of the previous commitment of $100bn per year, representatives of developing nations left negotiations far from happy with the outcome.

Astonishingly, these countries had arrived at the summit, which they have branded ‘abysmal’ and a ‘travesty of justice’, demanding an eye-watering $1.3 trillion per year to fund their transition towards net zero.

Am I the only one who believes that the sums of money being discussed here are beyond ludicrous?? At a time when the UK, along with many other countries, are still experiencing a cost of living crisis following the disastrous socialist economic policies employed during the COVID pandemic, and our pensioners have seen their vital Winter Fuel Allowance taken away from them in order to save the Treasury a relatively meagre £1.3bn per year, how can our government consider committing to sending such vast sums of British taxpayers’ money abroad for foreign governments to pretend to engage in the mindless drive to net zero?

It is unclear at this stage precisely what figure the UK will be contributing, however considering that Energy Minister Ed Milliband has already sent £11.6bn overseas this year in foreign climate aid, and the overall package promised is triple the previous total commitment of $100bn, we can expect it to be something in excess of £30bn per year!

What utter lunacy! What evidence even is there that the foreign governments receiving these funds are actually using these funds for the purposes intended? Many developing nations are governed by corrupt dictatorships, so it is difficult to see what concrete assurances can exist that the money we send them is not simply lining the pockets of dictators.

Chandni Raina, the chief negotiator at the summit representing India, branded the deal as ‘abysmally poor’, stating: “This, in our opinion, will not address the enormity of the challenge we all face”.

India has a space programme!! It possesses one of the largest and fastest growing economies in the world. Why are they even classed as a developing nation for these purposes? If they can afford to invest in putting astronauts into space, then they can fund their own renewable energy transition. For one of the world’s largest contributors to climate change to have the gall to criticise the western world for GIFTING an astronomical $300bn per year in aid, when they are busy building space rockets, is arrogant and ungrateful.

As too is the reaction of the delegates of the Least Developed Countries (LDC), a negotiating bloc representing 45 nations, who at one stage walked out of discussions in disgust at the free money being offered to them. The Nigerian delegate branded the deal as “a joke”, whilst the representative from Panama said that small nations “feel like they have been walked all over”.

Now I am not a climate denier… I accept that climate change exists, and that man-made emissions have and continue to contribute to it. I am in favour of a managed and affordable transition to renewable energy, and a reduction in carbon emissions in order to help protect the environment and reduce the damage that the human population has caused. However, as I am sure is evident from my previous posts on this blog (including here: https://www.hawker-gazette.com/post/climate-denial-vs-climate-realism), my scepticism of the narrative around it, and the supposed urgency with which this challenge needs to be addressed, leads me to challenge the necessity for our government to contribute such staggering sums in the pursuit of global net zero.

Talk of a ‘climate emergency’ and ‘global boiling’ smack of alarmism, designed to create a panic amongst normal members of society in order to build political capital to justify expensive and economically disastrous net zero policies.

Let’s not forget that some of the richest and most polluting nations in the world aren’t even a part of COP 29. China is still classed as a developing nation, despite having one of the largest economies in the world and being the largest emitter of carbon emissions globally. Yet they will be a recipient of our aid committed, rather than contributing to it. The same is true of the UAE, an oil-abundant nation literally drowning in its own fossil fuel-derived riches, who are also not expected to contribute towards the global transition.

It is beyond me how our government is able to sign up to this scandalous deal and commit such a huge amount of public money to a cause whose worth is unproven, without a public vote or even a debate in Parliament. Ed Milliband has been given a blank cheque to plough public money into this government’s net zero vanity projects without any accountability. In addition to the £11.6bn he has given in overseas climate aid to foreign nations already this year, he has also spent £22bn on carbon capture and storage projects, and committed a further £40bn per year to the rollout of wind and solar farms across our countryside.

All at a time when the Labour government supposedly can’t find £1.3bn for pensioners to keep their Winter Fuel allowance, and businesses are being hit with National Insurance hikes that they have openly said will lead to job losses and a slowing of growth.

This government has their priorities completely mixed up. They seem able to find endless pots of money for Ed Milliband to spend on unproven net zero initiatives, and for giving inflation-busting pay rises to public sector workers, whilst at the same time hammering businesses, taxing education, and allowing pensioners to freeze to death in their own homes.

Our decision to sign up to a deal at COP 29 that will see the UK taxpayer having to fork out over £30bn per year in climate aid to send to other countries, without any evidence to support how it will be used, is just the latest example of this clueless Labour government playing fast and loose with public finances, and mis-prioritising their pet projects ahead of the legitimate interests of the British public.