New approach summary paper: UK aid’s alignment with the Paris Agreement

3 Jun 2021

The Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) has today published its planned approach for a forthcoming rapid review that will examine how the UK government is aligning its official development assistance (ODA) with the Paris Agreement.

In mid 2019, the UK government made a commitment to align UK ODA with the Paris Agreement. While the alignment of ODA is not an obligation, the government’s commitment takes steps towards the third long term goal of the Paris Agreement of “making finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development”.

The alignment of UK aid with the Paris Agreement is a live policy area. The UK government has championed the increase in funding for climate action in developing countries, committing to spending £5.8 billion in UK aid funds on climate finance in the five years up to 2020-21, doubling this to at least £11.6 billion in the next five-year period. At the same time, recent parliamentary scrutiny has highlighted a lack of alignment of some UK ODA with climate commitments.

The review will examine the progress the UK has made towards aligning all UK aid with the Paris Agreement since its commitment. Recognising that the commitment to doing so is relatively recent, the review will focus primarily on whether the UK government has put in place suitable strategies, systems and processes that could deliver alignment of aid across aid-spending departments with the Paris Agreement.

The review intends to provide timely and useful insights that can support the effort to align UK ODA with the Paris Agreement.

Read the approach summary paper.