REACTION: Oxfam response to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s speech today at the Climate Action Summit at COP28

“The Prime Minister’s renewed support for climate finance is welcome but he must now demonstrate the funds are truly new and ensure they are provided as grants rather than loans. Otherwise they risk doing little to help lower-income countries deal with an escalating climate crisis they did little to cause. The Government's recent changes to how climate finance is calculated have become an exercise in creative accounting.

“If the government is serious about taking ambitious and pragmatic action, the UK must stop expanding oil and gas extraction and ensure climate finance benefits the communities that need it the most. Increasing taxes on the biggest and richest polluters, can help to raise the funds needed and begin tackling the twin crises of climate breakdown and runaway inequality together.

"The UK government should grasp the opportunity to show global leadership at COP28 and at home on the path to a fossil fuel free future."

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