Devex Newswire: As China’s UN bill grows, so does its belt-tightening

As China becomes a bigger financial player in the United Nations, it’s discovering its spendthrifty side — and joining the ranks of fiscal hawks such as the United States. Also in today’s edition: Two European development institutions butt heads, diplomatically of course, over whether natural gas is the lesser of two evils. ‘ Fuss budget Is China becoming a cheapskate at the United Nations? As the country of over 1.4 billion people increases its muscle-flexing on the world stage, that swagger comes with more financial responsibilities at the world body. Apparently, it also comes with a dose of frugality, our U.N. correspondent Colum Lynch reports. Earlier last month, Beijing proposed cutting more than $150 million from the U.N.’s $6.83 billion peacekeeping budget proposal for 2023/2024, according to an internal U.N. budget spreadsheet that Colum reviewed. In doing so, it joined the ranks of the fiscally hawkish Americans, although China’s budget battles have more to do with eliminating posts that promote human rights, gender equality, and victims’ rights (neither the U.S. nor China succeeded in slashing the budget, by the way). “They are absolutely obsessed with cutting,” says one U.N.-based diplomat involved in budget negotiations. “Their concern is now one of a major contributor, which is reducing to the extent you can the level of your contribution.” The spending squabbling came to a head over the amount of money it will take to evacuate U.N. personnel from Mali, where the government recently kicked out all peacekeepers. The U.S. and European partners wanted more money and time to close shop than did China and Russia. In the end they settled on a Goldilocks compromise — for some it was too much money, for others it was far too little. Read: China 'absolutely obsessed' with cutting spending at UN (Pro) + Not a Devex Pro member yet? We’re offering $100 off an annual Devex Pro membership for a limited time only, so take advantage and start your 15-day free trial now to read the piece. Stepping on the gas It’s a hot-button debate — and in some ways, an existential dilemma: Should countries in the global south, the least responsible for climate change, be able to use fossil fuels to grow their economies the way their wealthier counterparts historically did, in a process contributing to the inexorable warming of the planet that now disproportionately hurts those same global-south countries? Europe’s institutions appear somewhat conflicted. The president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Odile Renaud-Basso, tells our London correspondent Rob Merrick that the bank is unveiling a fresh energy strategy that will back new gas projects to wean lower-income countries off coal. That puts it at odds with another bank — the European Investment Bank, which in 2019 proclaimed itself on the “right side of history” by no longer funding gas projects. But Renaud-Basso tells Rob that EBRD is in a different position because it makes a lot more investments outside of Europe and, therefore, requires a “slightly more flexible strategy.” Read: EBRD president says bank must continue to fund some new gas projects Ex-Zac-ly what happened? Meanwhile, Rob tells me that British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s credentials on the climate crisis took a further battering when his international environment minister quit in protest of government “apathy.” But was that the real reason? Zac Goldsmith penned an explosive letter accusing the prime minister of being “simply uninterested” in the world’s “greatest challenge,” writing: “That signal, or lack of it, has trickled down through Whitehall and caused a kind of paralysis.” Goldsmith pointed to Sunak’s failure to attend the Paris global financing summit, noting he had found time to “attend the party of a media baron,” one Rupert Murdoch. However, as usual, bitter Conservative infighting forms the backdrop to the resignation, because Goldsmith was himself in trouble over his vocal support for disgraced former Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Sunak insisted Goldsmith had been told to apologize for undermining the inquiry that found Johnson had lied to parliament, noting in an ice-cold reply letter that he had “decided to take a different course.” Nevertheless, the resignation follows the U.K.’s climate watchdog’s recent damning verdict that the country has “lost [the] clear global leadership” it used to display and — in planning to open a coal mine and new oil and gas fields — is heading in an “utterly unacceptable” direction. ICYMI: ‘No show Sunak’ criticized for skipping Macron’s financing summit Conspicuous silence Leaders of the 27 European Union member states met in Brussels last week, again locking horns over how to handle migration to the bloc. And despite the drowning of potentially upward of 600 migrants off the Greek coast that garnered headlines last month (though not as much as the implosion of the Titan submersible that killed five people), the EU was largely silent on the tragedy. Instead, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Friday that she wanted to explore new comprehensive “packages” offering investment in things like renewable energy and skills partnerships (facilitating legal pathways to Europe), in exchange for cooperation from countries in North Africa to tackle smuggling and take back migrants from Europe. Our Brussels Correspondent Vince Chadwick tells me that the EU executive recently proposed one such agreement, worth over €1 billion, with Tunisia, and is also in talks with Egypt (despite both countries’ dubious human rights records). EU leaders expressed “profound sorrow” for the recent capsizing of a migrant ship in the Ionian Sea, but were mum in their public conclusions on the role played (or not played) by the Greek Coast Guard, which was on the scene when hundreds went missing, including children. Opinion corner • The global minimum tax is one of the most seismic changes to international taxation in a century, potentially generating $150 billion annually. How will this affect low- and middle-income nations and what does it mean for multilateral development banks? The International Finance Corporation’s Tom Roth explains. (Pro) • The World Health Organization is trying to steady its finances — first by raising government dues, which would make it less dependent on the voluntary contributions of a handful of powerful donors, and second by planning an “investment round,” which would likely include a replenishment conference. But there’s more the body can do to put itself on sounder financial footing, argue members of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law and the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health. • Like many federal behemoths, USAID has wrestled with modernization, often failing to keep up with a rapidly evolving world. But there’s a federal blueprint from other agencies with track records that USAID can double down on, along with pending legislation that could help the agency embrace the double firepower of evidence and innovation, write Joshua Schoop and Jay Sullivan. In other news The United States is lifting a legal designation of human rights violations in Ethiopia, which will allow economic aid to resume, despite reports of ongoing human rights abuses in the northern Tigray region. [Foreign Policy] Open Society Foundations' board approved a 40% reduction in its staff size in the coming months, after last month’s handover of the nonprofit to the founder's son, Alexander Soros. [Bloomberg] Ethiopia has officially submitted a request to join the BRICS bloc of emerging economies, according to its foreign ministry spokesperson Meles Alem. [Al Jazeera] Sign up to Newswire for an inside look at the biggest stories in global development.