Climate Financing

Debate between Lord Callanan and Baroness Sugg

Tuesday 17th October 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

The noble Lord makes some very good points. He may not have had the chance to see it yet, but we published a WMS this morning with details on our progress towards meeting the $100 billion target—so his question is very well timed. He makes a good point that, while government finance will be important, of course private finance is equally important, including in the UK and developing countries, towards meeting these goals.

[Baroness Sugg (Con)]

My Lords, women and girls are disproportionately impacted by climate change. A recent report from the UNFPA highlighted that rising temperatures have been linked to poorer maternal health and that extreme weather events are exacerbating inequalities because of the disruption to health services, including the loss of access to contraception. Does the Minister recognise this and will he also acknowledge that women are part of the solution, particularly when it comes to mitigation and adaptation? How are the Government ensuring that their climate finance properly addresses the needs of women and girls?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

I know that my noble friend is a powerful advocate for women and girls, both in this House and in the work she did in government. She is of course absolutely right. The FCDO’s international women and girls strategy sets out our commitment to increase the proportion of our international climate finance that will be gender-marked and to integrate gender and social inclusion objectives into our climate finance programmes and strategies.

TRIPS Agreement: Vaccines

Debate between Lord Callanan and Baroness Sugg

Monday 11th July 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

I disagree. This is a very good agreement, and the Government have seen no evidence that IP rights, including the protection of undisclosed information or trade secrets, are any barrier to accessing treatments for Covid-19. The problem now is that we are seeing supply effectively outstrip demand, with the current level of vaccine production. There is evidence—reports of a South African Covid-19 vaccine plant being at risk of closure because it has no orders, and the Serum Institute of India halving production of AstraZeneca’s vaccine due to no new orders.

[Baroness Sugg (Con)]

My Lords, I hear what my noble friend the Minister says around supply now but, if all the vaccines that the G7 committed to had been donated in 2021, around 600,000 lives would have been saved. I would like to ask about the finances. The UK has delivered some of the vaccines that it committed to, but I understand from the British Medical Journal that the Government have charged donated vaccines to the aid budget at much more than they paid for them, which has meant that there have been further cuts to life-saving UK aid programmes. Why have the Government counted each vaccine as £3.26 of aid spending, despite paying just £2.30 for doses in the first place?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

I thank my noble friend for the question. All vaccine dose donations will be reported as official development assistance and be included in the 0.5% total. Expenditure for 2021 has been published in the UK Statistics on International Development, and by the OECD Development Assistance Committee. In 2021, we donated 30.8 million doses of AstraZeneca, which we reported at cost in line with the DAC guidance.

Human Rights Due Diligence

Debate between Lord Callanan and Baroness Sugg

Tuesday 20th July 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

I admire the noble Lord’s ingenuity in getting a question on deportation flights into one considering forest communities. I do not have the information about that particular flight—I was not aware of it—so I will write to him.

[Baroness Sugg (Con)]

My Lords, local indigenous communities are the best custodians of the forest, yet they are often not considered, consulted or listened to. Looking ahead to COP 26, how will the Government ensure that the voices of indigenous groups are heard?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

My noble friend makes a very good point. The UK is working closely with the International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on Climate Change and the UNFCCC Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform to champion engagement and participation by indigenous groups in COP 26.

Covid-19: Vaccine Production

Debate between Lord Callanan and Baroness Sugg

Thursday 17th June 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

A strong IP system is crucial in supporting the rapid development of new vaccines, but the noble Lord is right: we contributed extensive taxpayer funds to supporting it.

[Baroness Sugg (Con)]

My Lords, as my noble friend has said, ramping up production of vaccines is key in the medium and long term but, in the short term, rich countries such as ours have been fortunate enough to be able to buy sufficient vaccines to vaccinate our population many times over. The 100 million doses the UK has now committed is a welcome first step, but 70 million will not be distributed until next year. Given that we will have fully vaccinated our adult population by the end of the summer, can my noble friend look again at the timing of our contribution?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

We will certainly look at it, as my noble friend suggests, but the Prime Minister has announced that the UK will share 100 million doses within the next year, of which 30 million will be delivered by the end of 2021. We currently do not have any surplus vaccines and the health of the UK public remains our first priority. But I agree with my noble friend that this virus will not truly be beaten until it is defeated everywhere. We have been committed to affordable access to vaccines for all since the start of the pandemic, and this announcement is another tangible demonstration of that.

Climate Change Committee: Carbon Budget Report

Debate between Lord Callanan and Baroness Sugg

Tuesday 16th March 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

I am not aware of the specific changes proposed in Oxfordshire—I will certainly have a look at that—but there is a walking and cycling strategy. The Government have devoted considerable resources through the Department for Transport to encouraging both those modes of transport.

[Baroness Sugg (Con) [V]]

My Lords, the Sixth Carbon Budget report includes options for reducing emissions in the aviation sector. Can my noble friend the Minister tell us what the Government are doing to encourage sustainable aviation fuels, the development and take-up of which would not only reduce emissions but would support and create new green-collar jobs across the country?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

My noble friend makes some very good points. As we were both aviation Ministers, I am delighted to tell her that today we launch the Green Fuels, Green Skies competition, which will provide up to £15 million in funding for the early-stage development of first-of-a-kind, large-scale sustainable aviation fuel projects in the UK.