UK PM Rishi Sunak Announces $2 Billion in Aid for Green Climate Fund at G20 Summit

On the final day of the two-day G20 Summit in New Delhi, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced a record climate aid commitment of $2 billion for the Green Climate Fund.

"The United Kingdom is stepping up and delivering on our climate commitments, both by decarbonizing our own economy and assisting the world's most vulnerable to deal with the impact of climate change," Sunak said in a speech to G20 leaders.

The contribution is by far the largest single funding commitment made by the UK to assist the world in combating climate change.

"The UK will contribute £1.62 billion ($2 billion) to the Green Climate Fund (GCF), which was established by 194 countries following the Copenhagen Accord at COP15," the British High Commission in India announced.

According to the GCF, it is the largest global fund dedicated to assisting developing countries in reducing global emissions and assisting communities in adapting to the effects of climate change.

"Today's pledge represents a 12.7% increase on the UK's previous contribution to the GCF for the period 2020-2023, which was itself a doubling of our initial funding to establish the fund in 2014."

Sunak urged leaders to collaborate ahead of the COP28 Summit in December to both reduce their countries' carbon emissions and assist vulnerable economies in dealing with the consequences of climate change.