Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, pursuant to the Answer of 21 March 2024 to Question 19159 on Overseas Investment: Fossil Fuels, what his planned timescale is for ending support for the overseas fossil fuel sector.

The Government's policy on supporting overseas fossil fuel projects is set out at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65840f10fc07f300128d45e9/aligning-uk-international-support-for-the-clean-energy-transition.pdf. This policy has been in force since 31 March 2021.

All investment commitments made by BII since December 2020 meet the conditions set out in BII's Climate Change Strategy and the UK Government's fossil fuel policy. BII are committed to Paris alignment and to reaching net zero at a portfolio level by 2050. A quick sale of existing fossil fuel assets would simply offload the problem to other potentially less responsible investors and may not offer value for money for the British taxpayer.