Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the Government is providing support overseas to tackle (a) historical carbon emissions and (b) factory toxic and non-toxic waste resulting from UK (i) infrastructure projects and (ii) consumer demand.

The UK's domestic commitments on climate and environment, such as our legislated target for net zero emissions by 2050, and the Environment Bill, have put UK industry at the forefront of low carbon technological innovation and environmental standards. The Government supports UK industry to export these strengths abroad and requires UK companies operating abroad to apply the highest climate and environmental standards.

For example, the Department for International Trade provides dedicated support for UK companies in waste management and hazardous waste supply chains. UK Export Finance is committed to high standards of environmental, social and human rights risk (ESHR) management. It employs a specialist ESHR team to review projects prior to taking a decision on whether to provide support and monitors to ensure compliance. In addition, the Government's Clean Growth Strategy sets out how carbon pricing will continue to incentivise industrial emissions reductions.

The Government provides extensive support for countries to tackle emissions, cope with the effects of climate change, reduce pollution from industry, and improve environmental standards. Since 2011, we have supported 66 million people to cope with the effects of climate change and avoided 31 million tonnes of emissions thanks to our international climate finance, which we have committed to doubling to £11.6 billion between 2021/22 and 2025/26. FCDO's funding to tackle pollution overseas, including the Sustainable Manufacturing & Environmental Pollution programme, will reduce pollution associated with a range of manufacturing process in developing countries across Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.