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Britain’s foreign secretary, Ed Miliband, is to indicate he will put the climate crisis and overseas development at the heart of UK international relations by taking up the country’s seat on the board at the World Bank.
The position, which is usually delegated to a junior minister, means Miliband will play an active role in shaping the changes to the World Bank that developing countries have called for, and ensuring the climate remains a core focus for overseas aid.
Miliband, who was energy and net zero secretary under Keir Starmer, will say: “International development is not an add-on to British foreign policy – it is central to it. By taking on the role of UK governor to the World Bank, I want to send an unambiguous signal that this government is serious about its global leadership on development and climate.”
His announcement comes as fires continue to devastate swathes of France and Spain, and after Scotland called for military aid to tackle a blaze that engulfed the Cairngorms. Conditions approaching drought across England and parts of Wales have prompted hosepipe bans, and the heatwave that swept across Europe in June is estimated to have cost the continent’s grain farmers €2bn (£1.7bn) in lost revenue.
By taking up the World Bank seat personally, Miliband is sending a clear signal that while other politicians even now argue against net zero policies, the Foreign Office will continue to drive climate action.
The move comes at a crucial time for the international lender, which has come under heavy pressure from the Trump administration to reverse a previous focus on climate finance. Last month, the publicly funded bank scrapped its goal for 45% of its finance to be directed to climate-related ends.
Experts welcomed Miliband’s decision as a boost to climate action. Lord Stern, a professor of economics at the London School of Economics, said the foreign secretary’s take-up of the UK governor’s seat would “send a powerful and important signal” to the world.
“As a former chief economist and senior vice-president of the World Bank, I know that the UK can punch above its weight,” he said. “But only if the leadership is there from the top. In recent years, that has slipped. Ed Miliband will be restoring development and climate to the priority in our international relationships that they must have, in a world facing climate and biodiversity crises, and with real and growing threats to the wellbeing of the world’s poorest.”
Other countries have been wary of challenging the US on its anti-climate stance, for fear of reprisals and after widespread cuts to developed countries’ overseas aid. The UK is one of six countries with its own seat at the World Bank board.
Mohamed Adow, a director of Power Shift Africa, a thinktank, said Miliband could champion changes at the lender that would help the poor.
“The real test is whether the UK uses its influence to push the World Bank to deliver far more finance for climate action and adaptation, to get money to countries faster, and ensure the poorest nations are not forced deeper into debt to respond to a crisis they did least to cause,” Adow said. “If this appointment marks the start of renewed British leadership on global climate and development, it will be warmly welcomed across Africa.”
Miliband will face a shrinking aid budget and tough decisions over allocation. Starmer slashed overseas aid to 0.3% of gross national income, a sharp reduction from 0.5% under the Conservatives and the 0.7% reached under the last Labour government. Climate finance was also cut by 14%, from £11.6bn for the period 2021 to 2026 to £2bn a year.
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Britain’s prime minister, Andy Burnham, was criticised last week for saying his planned £2 cap on bus fares in England would be funded mainly by changing international climate finance grants into repayable loans. The loans will go to the Tropical Forests Forever Facility, an investment fund set up by the Brazilian government.
Jonathan Hall, the managing director of the charity Conservation International UK, said that to restore its credibility, the government should rescind the cuts Starmer made to funding for nature protection despite Britain’s spy chiefs saying that ecosystem collapse overseas threatened national security.
“Miliband now needs to reintroduce a clear target for a third of the UK’s £6bn climate aid budget to finance natural ecosystems and tropical forests, a goal which was lost under his predecessor,” said Hall.
The UK will take over the leadership of the G20 group in November.
Rachel Kyte, the UK’s climate envoy and a former senior World Bank official, said: “We will be in the midst of an energy and food security crisis from the blockage of the strait of Hormuz. Compounding that is a severe El Niño. We will need every ounce of capacity in the international financial architecture to help some parts of the world through the severity of these impacts. Ed has seen what it takes to mobilise the world to action before, pulling every lever we have available to us. If needed, we will do it again, for our own and everyone else’s security.”
