Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans she has in place to support (a) countries increasingly affected by extreme weather linked to climate change and (b) refugees displaced by the effects of climate change.

Tackling climate change is a priority for the UK Government and for DFID. Under the Paris agreement the UK has pledged to deliver £5.8bn of International Climate Finance between 2016 and 2020 to help poorer countries tackle climate change.

These funds are helping to build the resilience of people and communities to cope with climate change already locked in and taking action to reduce future emissions. The UK has helped 47 million people cope with the effects of climate change since 2011.

The UK is also working to increase international action on climate change. The Prime Minister has been asked by the United Nations Secretary General to help secure more ambitious and urgent action to build climate resilience, ahead of the Summit on Climate Change in September 2019.

Climate change, environmental degradation and natural disasters do not create refugees, who are defined as people fleeing persecution and conflict. However the UK recognises that climate change contributes to the displacement of people in the most vulnerable regions. This is why a major focus of our work is to build the resilience of those communities.