Sunak cut overseas aid from 0.7% to 0.5% of UK GDP during his time as chancellor and since becoming prime minister last month has continued to redirect overseas aid to programs within the UK. “The big problem with our development aid budget now is, number one, that we’ve cut it. This cut is having a devastating impact on programmes, for example in Africa,” Blair told the Observer. “But secondly, of the money that we have, a large part of it has now been turned away for Ukrainian refugees and others. So the actual amount of money we have left for clean development in places like Africa now is very little.” This leaves poor countries with big holes in their development plans, he warned. “For many of these countries, Britain was a world leader in growth. We created the Department of International Development. We went to 0.7% of GDP,” he said. “We’ve now pulled back from that for the last two or three years and, of course, it’s had a big impact on Britain’s reputation with those countries.” He also warned of a backsliding on climate pledges as the government seeks to license new oil and gas fields in the North Sea amid gas prices driven up by the war in Ukraine. “The UK, like all other countries, will want to look after the energy needs of its people – I understand that,” he said. “The UK is generally seen as a climate leader, but it is important that it remains so. “It’s a reputation we’ve only achieved through having a strong policy, and we need to keep it strong.” A bigger windfall tax on fossil fuel company profits and an accelerated program for renewable energy, including onshore wind, were crucial, he added. “Keir [Starmer] and Labor have exactly the right idea, which is to realize that you can put together the concept of green energy and a whole new economic and industrial position for Britain.” Blair, whose Institute for Global Change seeks to help developing country governments, was speaking on the sidelines of the Cop27 UN climate summit, which this weekend reached its halfway mark. Nearly 200 governments are meeting in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, to detail how they plan to limit global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and provide financial aid to poor countries suffering from the climate crisis. . So far, although more than 100 world leaders attended last week and 45,000 delegates remain, there has been little progress on pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions and little new money for climate finance. The most contentious issue in the talks is “loss and damage”, referring to the most devastating effects of extreme weather, which are already affecting some countries. Pakistan was hit by record floods in August and September that left 20 million people in need of humanitarian aid, while in Africa the worst droughts in 40 years have left nearly 150 million facing extreme hunger. Rishi Sunak delivers a speech at COP27 in Egypt last week. Photo: Anadolu Agency/Getty Some activists have called for developed countries to pay “reparations” to the poor world for these impacts, to compensate them for the damage their greenhouse gases have been causing for decades. Blair strongly warned against this. “If this becomes a broad and legal argument for compensation, it will become extremely politically difficult,” he said. Terms such as indemnities, liability and compensation have specific legal meaning, and signing an agreement containing such terms would leave developed countries open to potentially unlimited payments in the future, he said. “The problem is you’re not going to get developed countries to agree to something with a legal framework around it [reparations],” he said. “It’s extremely difficult to see how you’re going to do that. We shouldn’t let that argument get in the way of the clear obligation to help finance adaptation needs — which, in essence, is loss and damage.” He said the losses and damages should be seen as developed countries provide aid to the poor and boost private sector funding. “The bottom line is that there is a moral obligation for the developed world, which has created the problem of climate change, to help finance both clean energy in the developing world and adaptation. [to the impacts of extreme weather],” he said. “That’s the best way to look at it.” Blair warned that the global 1.5C target was at risk. “This is incredibly difficult,” he said. “Look, we can keep it as an aspiration, but that’s why we have to get practical because if we want to achieve it, we need an acceleration and a transformation [to a low-carbon economy]. You need more examples of real practical designs.’ Helping poor nations lift people out of poverty was key, he added. “The only way you’re going to have a chance of getting close to 1.5C is if you provide practical evidence that it’s possible for countries to make that transition,” he said. “The central point about climate change is that as the developed world’s emissions fall, the developing world’s emissions rise. In the developing world, they are going to grow. You can’t say to an African country that hasn’t caused this problem, “You can’t develop.” So the only question is, can you help them grow sustainably?’
