The UK has “added” around £450m to its climate-aid spending in developing countries by changing how it defines “climate finance”, according to Carbon Brief analysis.
In a statement to parliament, the government has laid out a new plan to meet its goal of providing £11.6bn of international climate finance (ICF) between 2021/22 and 2025/26.
It relies on expanding the activities that the UK classifies as ICF to include payments into development banks and more money for the private sector.
When compared to pre-revision data obtained by Carbon Brief via freedom of information (FOI) request earlier this year, these changes appear to “add” hundreds of millions of pounds to the UK’s climate aid over the past two years.
These changes would mean ICF spending has “risen” since 2020.
This contrasts strongly with Carbon Brief analysis published last week which showed how, prior to these changes, spending had fallen for two years in a row.
This development comes after months of concern that the UK would not be able to meet its ICF goal. Cuts to foreign aid and the diversion of funds to house refugees had rendered the ICF target a “mathematical impossibility”, according to former minister Zac Goldsmith.
Meeting the target
The government committed in 2019 to spending £11.6bn on ICF between 2021/22 and 2025/26. It said this would amount to “doubling” its ICF spending from its previous five-year target of £5.8bn.
In his statement to parliament on 17 October, development minister Andrew Mitchell set out “how we expect to meet our target”, publishing figures for the total spend in 2021/22 and 2022/23, plus estimated ranges for the following three years.
The figure he gave for 2021/22 was £1.65bn. This is £181.6m more than the £1.47bn figure provided to Carbon Brief by FOI earlier this year. (That approximate figure has also been cited by Mitchell himself, who said in July the UK had spent “over £1.4bn” on ICF in 2021/22.)
The ICF figure given for 2022/23 was £1.63bn, which is £267.4m more than the £1.36bn figure stated in Carbon Brief’s FOI results. That number was based on “provisional” data provided by the government, as well as an estimate for the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs ICF contribution. It was backed up by a leaked civil service document reported by the Guardian.
In total, this amounts to an additional £449.1m over these two years.
As the chart below shows, the new figures mean ICF has increased since 2020/21 rather than declined.
In response to Carbon Brief’s previous analysis, climate-finance experts said it looked increasingly unlikely that the UK would be able to meet its £11.6bn goal. Carbon Brief calculated spending would have to roughly double and remain that high for three years.
As part of his statement, Mitchell laid out an “expected range” for the UK’s ICF between 2023/24 and 2025/26, which would result in between £11bn and 12bn being spent across the full five-year period.
While this projected increase would be less pronounced than the earlier figures suggested, it is still significant, as the chart below shows. Mitchell said this reflected “both the increasing importance of tackling climate change and the growth in our economy”.
‘Moving the goalposts’
The government has arrived at these figures by expanding the range of spending it categorises as climate finance. Experts and campaigners have described the act as “moving the goalposts” and “an exercise in double-counting”.
One major change is that the UK now counts climate-related contributions to the World Bank and other multilateral development banks towards its climate-finance goals. This would amount to roughly an additional £200m a year.
Until now, the UK has limited how much of its investments through British International Investment (BII) and other private finance mobilisation programmes count as climate finance. Now, the government plans to loosen these restrictions, meaning more money will go to businesses rather than country-led responses to climate change.
The government has defended its changes on the basis that other major climate-finance contributors, such as Germany, Japan and the US, already use these approaches.
Mitchell said in his statement that “the UK has long looked to lead on climate action”, citing its record providing climate finance overseas. However, Euan Ritchie, a senior development finance policy advisor at the thinktank Development Initiatives, tells Carbon Brief:
“The UK has been one of the better climate-finance reporters in the past…Justifying slackening in reporting standards based on what other countries are doing is problematic. We want other countries to be improving their reporting to be in line with the UK, not vice versa.”
As Mitchell’s statement points out, the UK has historically provided 85% of its ICF as grants – generally seen as superior to loans for debt-laden countries – while the global average for grant-based finance is 26%. Experts tell Carbon Brief that the new approach will likely mean more UK climate finance is distributed as loans.
In addition, as the 2019 pledge to “double” UK climate finance was based on the original calculations, the new methodology means the £11.6bn goal is no longer comparing like for like.
Catherine Pettengell, executive director at Climate Action Network UK, tells Carbon Brief:
“It is an accounting exercise to get to a specific figure and is nothing about doubling the amount of finance available or the intended impact and outcomes of climate finance. With costs of climate change escalating around the world, relabelling existing finance is so far from what is actually needed.”
Previously, there had been suggestions that the government could only achieve its goals by taking aid from other funding streams. Given this, Ian Mitchell, an economist at the Center for Global Development, pointed out that broadening the climate-finance definition provided a better option for meeting the £11.6bn target than taking funds from health or education aid.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) declined to comment on Carbon Brief’s analysis.
The post Analysis: UK ‘adds’ £450m to its climate-finance spending by changing definition appeared first on Carbon Brief.
Analysis: UK ‘adds’ £450m to its climate-finance spending by changing definition
Climate Change
Greenpeace delivers 47 metre-long petition with half a million signatures to Woodside HQ following major gas protest
Greenpeace delivers 47 metre-long petition with half a million signatures to Woodside HQ following major gas protest
PERTH, Monday 19 October 2026 — Dozens of Perth community members delivered a giant petition, signed by almost half a million people, to Woodside’s corporate headquarters this morning, calling on the government to save Scott Reef from Woodside’s reckless Browse gas proposal.
Dressed in sea creature costumes and hats, supporters carried one of Australia’s biggest environmental petitions to Woodside’s headquarters, and a local choir performed a ‘Scott Reef’ rendition of Angie McMahon’s iconic cover of ‘Reckless’ by Australian Crawl.
On the sidelines of the Perth Global Citizen Now event, it comes following a two day-long protest at Woodside’s Scarborough gas platform that saw activists scale and occupy the Floating Production Unit calling to “Stop Woodside’s Dirty Gas” and “Save Scott Reef”. The activists were taken from the platform by police helicopter on Sunday afternoon.
David Ritter, CEO at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said: “Less than a day after two Greenpeace Australia Pacific activists were arrested for their peaceful protest at Woodside’s Scarborough gas platform to save Scott Reef, we are here again with another message to Woodside: half a million of us do not want your dirty gas at Scott Reef.
“Community pressure on Woodside is rising. Today we are here to show Woodside that they can’t ignore half a million people who want Scott Reef protected, not turned into an industrialised gas zone.
“Woodside can’t be trusted with our oceans. Woodside’s plans to drill up to 57 toxic wells at Scott Reef, Australia’s largest oceanic reef, putting endangered pygmy blue whales at risk, and jeopardising a nesting ground for unique green sea turtles.
“We Australians love our oceans and this is an opportunity for our governments to do the right thing, to reject Woodside’s reckless drilling plans, and save Scott Reef.”
-ENDS-
Media contact
Kate O’Callaghan on +61 406 231 892 or Emma Sangalli on +61 431 513 465
Climate Change
Greenpeace Australia Pacific activists in police custody after two-day protest against Woodside’s Browse gas project at Scott Reef
PERTH, Sunday 18 October 2026 — Two Greenpeace Australia Pacific activists are in police custody after occupying a gas platform at Woodside’s Scarborough gas project, in peaceful protest of the fossil fuel corporation’s plans to drill for oil and gas at Scott Reef.
NEW footage and photos of the peaceful protest available here and on Instagram
The activists used specialised climbing equipment to scale and attach themselves to a Floating Production Unit (FPU), a key piece of gas processing infrastructure at the Scarborough gas field over 200km off the coast of Exmouth, at around 05:45am AWST on Saturday and proceeded to occupy the platform for two days, displaying banners reading “Stop Woodside’s Dirty Gas. Save Scott Reef.”
Special police forces landed a helicopter on the FPU at around 11:30am AWST. The activists safely removed themselves from their equipment before being taken into police custody around 1:00pm AWST. At the time of writing, no charges have been laid.
David Ritter, CEO at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said: “It takes guts and conviction to do what our activists have done, peacefully protesting Woodside’s reckless gas plans at Scott Reef.
“Woodside’s plans to drill up to 57 toxic wells at Scott Reef are outrageous. If allowed to go ahead Woodside would turn Scott Reef, Australia’s largest oceanic reef, home to nesting green sea turtles and elusive pygmy blue whales, into an industrial gas zone. Around half a million people have called on our governments to stop Woodside and to save Scott Reef.
“Our activists are highly trained and experienced in these activities. West Australia has a proud history of peaceful, democratic protest at sea, to protect our oceans from environmental threats. From whaling in Albany in the seventies, to Woodside’s threat to Scott Reef today, there’s more than fifty years of history, of Greenpeace taking action off WA’s coast to protect the places we love.
“Peaceful protest has long been part of what has given us so many of the things that are great about Australia and is part of the fabric of our democracy and our national identity.”
“The right to peaceful protest is fundamental to a healthy democracy. From Australia to the Arctic and the Amazon, Greenpeace has been peacefully protesting for more than 50 years to expose the biggest environmental threats around the world. We will not be silenced by corporations like Woodside who actively try to stop everyday people from speaking out against their reckless plans.
“Woodside’s reckless proposal to drill at Scott Reef is an unacceptable risk to Scott Reef and to the climate, which our government should emphatically reject.”
Speaking from the Rainbow Warrior, Captain of the Rainbow Warrior Hettie Geenen, said:
“It felt powerful watching from the Rainbow Warrior as these brave activists scaled Woodside’s enormous and imposing gas infrastructure, which has no place at Scott Reef. We are all out here because we feel an urge to act, in the face of Woodside’s grave threat to Scott Reef and to our climate. Now we ask for the Australian government to act too, and reject Woodside’s reckless Browse project.
“Just before this peaceful protest, the Rainbow Warrior sailed to Scott Reef, where our whole crew got to witness the magic of an untouched, healthy reef ecosystem full of marine life. It was my second time visiting Scott Reef with the Rainbow Warrior. When you see Scott Reef up close and witness its magic first hand, it is impossible not to feel driven to try and protect it.”
The activists sailed to Scarborough on the Rainbow Warrior, Greenpeace’s flagship vessel, which is in the region campaigning to protect Australia’s oceans, including Scott Reef.
-ENDS-
Media contact
Greenpeace Australia Pacific media team in Perth on +61 406 231 892 or +61 407 581 404 or email media.au@greenpeace.org
Climate Change
GREENPEACE GAS PROTEST DAY TWO: Activists spend first night on Woodside’s Scarborough gas platform, “in this for the long haul”
- NEW footage and photos available here and on Instagram – more being uploaded today.
- Interviews available with campaigners on board the Rainbow Warrior on request.
Greenpeace Australia Pacific activists have slept overnight on Woodside’s Floating Production Unit and dropped a massive 12×14-metre banner reading “Stop Woodside’s Dirty Gas. Save Scott Reef”.
Two activists have set up temporary hanging tents on the South East pillar, while the other two returned to the Rainbow Warrior late yesterday afternoon, after fulfilling their initial role. The activists will occupy the platform for as long as possible.
The environmental advocacy group is peacefully protesting Woodside’s plans to drill for oil and gas at Scott Reef as part of its Browse proposal.
Sakyo Noda, one of the Greenpeace Australia Pacific activists, said: “As a Japanese person living in Australia, I feel incredibly passionate about stopping Australia’s gas exports to Asia.
“Despite what the gas industry tells us, Australia’s gas is not helping to decarbonise Asia. It is simply not true. We shouldn’t be allowing fossil fuel companies like Woodside to extract new fossil fuels, let alone at extraordinary places like Scott Reef”.
Aboard the Rainbow Warrior, Geoff Bice, WA Campaign Lead at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, added, “Everyone is in good spirits. We’re in it for the long haul.”
Links:
Photos and video of Scott Reef here
Audio and footage of yesterday’s press conference here
Content and live updates will be uploaded to a live blog and Instagram
In-person interviews in Perth with David Ritter, CEO of Greenpeace Australia Pacific, can be organised. Dial-in, SimSat and Zoom interviews with Geoff Bice, WA Campaign Lead at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, currently aboard the Rainbow Warrior, can be organised.
Greenpeace delivers 47 metre-long petition with half a million signatures to Woodside HQ following major gas protest
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Greenpeace Australia Pacific activists in police custody after two-day protest against Woodside’s Browse gas project at Scott Reef
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