Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 3 February 2020 to Question 9092 on Developing Countries: Climate Change, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of UK Export Finance’s funding for international (a) oil and (b) gas projects on developing country dependency on fossil fuels.

The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals recognise the importance of affordable clean energy access in order to create economic growth and sustainable development.

All governments that are signatories to the Paris Agreement make their own decisions as to how they will reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to meet their Nationally Determined Contributions. DFID provides technical assistance for developing countries to think about their energy choices and achieve a more sustainable, diversified energy mix. UK ODA increasingly supports renewable energy sources – between 2011-12 and 2018-19 UK aid has provided 26 million people with improved access to clean energy and avoided 16 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. UK Export Finance is not classed as Official Development Assistance.

We are continuing to work closely with departments and agencies across Government, to implement the Prime Minister’s announcement on aligning future UK ODA spending with the Paris Agreement.