Row over UK involvement in Environmental Transformation Fund
May 27, 2008
A row has erupted over the question of the UK’s international funding for developing countries via its Environmental Transformation Fund (ETF).
The ETF was launched as an initiative to bring forward the development of new low-carbon energy and energy efficiency technologies, both in the UK but also internationally, to assist developing countries in tackling climate change, mainly by focusing on poverty reduction and environmental protection.
The fund is jointly administered by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR).
Monies within the domestic element of the fund will total £400 million during the period 2008/09 to 2010/11.
With regard to international funding, a sum of £800 million has repeatedly been mentioned in government literature as the international element of the fund for the same period, bringing the total value of the ETF to £1.2 billion over the three-year period.
A source said the first £50 million has been earmarked to help tackle deforestation in the Congo Basin.
However, it seems the Government has recently indicated that the sum of £800 million is to be in the form of an interest-free loan, rather than money to be given as aid.
The International Institute for Environment and Development, based in London, was recently quoted in BBC news reports, criticising the government stance.
The institute’s spokesman, Saleem ul-Huq, was quoted as saying, "Rich countries like the UK have caused the climate problem and poor countries are predicted to suffer most. It is outrageous that the UK is prepared to make poor countries even more heavily indebted trying to combat a problem they did not cause."
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