Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he has taken to encourage members of the Commonwealth to share the same goals in tackling anthropogenic climate change and global warming.

Climate change has long been of concern to the Commonwealth and the majority of member states continue to advocate for ambitious action on climate change today. Small and vulnerable states – which account for almost 60% of the Commonwealth – face an existential threat from climate change and associated natural disasters.

This concern has been reflected in Commonwealth statements as early as the Langkawi Declaration on the Environment in 1989. Under UK chairmanship at the 2018 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, leaders reaffirmed their commitments under the Paris Agreement. We would expect the Commonwealth to play a major role in ensuring that a UK-hosted COP26 would be a success.

The Government is now using its diplomatic network to support mitigation and adaptation across the Commonwealth. For example:

• In Asia, Malaysia has confirmed its interest in partnering with the UK to develop an emissions calculator. The calculator is an open source energy and emissions tool developed by the UK to allow countries to explore and develop strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

• In Africa, the UK has provided £500,000 to support the Commonwealth’s Climate Finance Access Hub based in Mauritius. The Hub will help small and vulnerable countries access international sources of finance to support adaptation and mitigation.

• In the Caribbean, the UK is helping four countries – Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, and St Lucia – to prepare detailed disaster risk profiles to aid efforts to increase their resilience to natural disaster. This work builds on existing support from the World Bank and is expected to be extended across the region over the next year.

• In the Pacific, the UK has pledged £1.2 million to support the establishment in Fiji of a Regional Nationally Determined Contribution Hub. The centre has been established in partnership with Australia, Germany and New Zealand, to help Pacific Island Countries implement national climate change policies and frameworks in response to the 2015 Paris Agreement.