Nearly Quarter Of UK Foreign Energy Aid Spent On Fossil Fuel Projects - Report

Almost a quarter of the UK foreign aid that was sent overseas between 2010 and 2017 to support the energy industry in developing countries was used to fund fossil fuel projects, blatantly going against the goals outlined in the Paris Agreement to which the United Kingdom is party, a study commissioned by an international development charity showed on Tuesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd July, 2019) Almost a quarter of the UK foreign aid that was sent overseas between 2010 and 2017 to support the energy industry in developing countries was used to fund fossil fuel projects, blatantly going against the goals outlined in the Paris Agreement to which the United Kingdom is party, a study commissioned by an international development charity showed on Tuesday.

According to the report, compiled by the UK Overseas Development Institute at the request of the UK-based Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD), 22 percent of the 3 billion Pounds ($3.7 billion) that the United Kingdom sent overseas was used for fossil fuel projects. This means that about 680 million pounds were spent in the seven years on carbon-intensive energy.

"�3bn of the UK's support for energy overseas was aid. Yet 22% went to support fossil fuel energy. This undermines the UK's commitment to climate change action and lifting people out of poverty. We are calling for more consistent action," CAFOD tweeted following the report's release.

The charity said that despite the United Kingdom's pledged commitment to fight climate change through signing such deals as the Paris climate agreement, the country's actions overseas, as evidenced by the report, diverged from this trajectory.

The organization called on UK authorities to stop funding all investments into fossil fuel projects in developing countries.

"CAFOD is calling on the UK government to align its aid spending with its climate and poverty reduction goals by ending all new aid for fossil fuels. More UK aid is needed to lift people out of energy poverty," the charity tweeted.

The Paris Agreement, adopted in 2015, aims to curb climate change by trying to keep the increase in global average temperature below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels. To date, the agreement has been ratified by 185 out of the 197 parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The United Kingdom has been caught in the middle of the so-called Extinction Rebellion environmentalist disruption campaign since April 15, in which people have been staging mass protests throughout the country, demanding that the government address what they describe as a global ecological emergency and take action on climate change.