Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that covid-19 recovery plans are leveraged to increase the capacity of climate vulnerable countries to manage the effects of climate change and build resilience.

The UK Government has made tackling climate change and biodiversity loss the UK's number one international priority. As G7 and COP26 President, the UK is working to catalyse international support for climate adaptation and resilience measures for lower-income countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. COVID-19 recovery support is one important part of this. We have committed £4.8 million to the World Bank Climate Support Facility to develop the technical capacity lower-income countries need to identify opportunities to build low-carbon, climate-resilient approaches into COVID-19 recovery plans. We are also investing up to £20 million in the African Union's COVID-19 Response Fund and worked closely with the African Union on the development of their Green Recovery Action Plan to ensure Africa builds back sustainably from the pandemic.

We are committed to doubling the UK's International Climate Finance to £11.6 billion by 2025/26 aiming for a balance between mitigation and adaptation. This includes specific additional support for disaster-preparedness and resilience-building measures for the world's poorest, such as an additional £120 million in new funding for Disaster Risk Finance, announced at the G7 in June, to enable quicker responses for vulnerable people when extreme weather and climate-linked disasters hit.