International Climate Finance

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Monday 12th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Sarah Champion]

I thank my hon. Friend and Committee member, who has consistently made this argument. The Government need to give us that transparency so that we can see what does and does not work, and then replicate that on a global scale. Without that clear information being presented to this House, it becomes impossible to see the impact we are having.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

First, I thank the Chair of the Committee for her statement and all the Committee members for their work. I do not care what anybody says: none of us can ignore the fact that the ice caps are melting, the rainforests have been decimated, bird and animal life across the world has been reduced dramatically, and fires, floods and pestilence—to use a biblical term—seem to be everyday occurrences.

In particular, the hon. Lady mentioned women and girls, and I wish to focus on and ask her a question about them. I think it is really important that they have the chance to thrive, to be educated and to have the health they should have, and then that they have the opportunity to find a job. What more can our Government do to ensure that women and girls across the world have a chance to thrive?

[Sarah Champion]

The hon. Member makes a powerful point, which I have heard him make for decades, about trying to support women and girls to flourish wherever they find themselves. I would say that the most straightforward thing the Government could do right now is to publish the data about who the money goes to and how it impacts positively on their lives. The Committee has been calling for that for as long as I have chaired it, and I think the Government really need to act on it.