A Labour government will legislate to ensure the aid budget contributes to the fight against climate change if elected and “evolve” the government’s development agency, according to Preet Gill, shadow international development secretary.
Speaking at the Labour Party conference on Tuesday, Gill also repeated Labour’s commitment to return the aid budget to 0.7% of gross national income.
As the Labour conference became embroiled in an argument over whether to restore the Department for International Development, Gill stopped short of pledging to restore the department in her speech, instead saying there would be a “new model.”
Gill said on Tuesday: “Just as 25 years ago, DFID was created to tackle the global challenges we faced, it continued to evolve, from 1997, to 2010, and it will do so again. A Labour government will put in place a new model with the independence needed to meet the challenges of the 21st century: one that recognizes the link between development and climate,” said Gill. “Its mission will be to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals.”
There has been no further information on what the “new model” will look like, but David Lammy, shadow foreign secretary, asked the development sector for help coming up with ideas on Monday.
Gill continued: “We will reinstate Britain’s commitment to spend 0.7% of income on aid. And we will deliver a distinct development program that brings value for money and ends the government’s wasteful and transactional approach.
“The climate emergency is this century’s biggest threat to humanity,” added Gill. “That is why I am also announcing today that Labour will legislate to make sure that, as a priority, Britain’s aid budget helps address climate change.”
The legislation will be designed to be similar to the International Development Gender Equality Act of 2014, and make the minister responsible for International Development accountable for the climate impact of aid spending and report this to Parliament each year, Devex understands.
Labour intends to use the law to link development and climate policies more closely, and to ensure the latter is a priority in how aid spending decisions are made, including in strategic priorities, resource allocations, program evaluation indicators, and reporting requirements for government contractors.
But the move was not met with a universal welcome among development advocates. “This is a bad idea,” tweeted Ranil Dissanayake, policy fellow at the Center for Global Development. “Why is it suddenly fashionable to argue that institutions for the development of poor places should make everything about climate? Just because climate change is bad and poverty is bad doesn't make them substitutes.”
The announcement came soon after news that Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy pledged that a Labour government would center the climate crisis in foreign policy and push climate up the international agenda by campaigning for environment to become the fourth pillar of the United Nations, alongside peace, human rights, and development.
Gill said it “falls to Labour to undo [the] damage” done by the Conservative government, which has been in power since 2010 and “earn back the trust of Britain’s partners.”
“We will back the next generation at home and abroad, demanding a fairer, greener, global future,” said Gill. “This is a reset moment for the Sustainable Development Goals. It is time to renew our movement to fight poverty and inequality and the climate crisis.”
About the author
William Worley@willrworley
Will Worley is the Climate Correspondent for Devex, covering the intersection of development and climate change. He previously worked as UK Correspondent, reporting on the FCDO and British aid policy during a time of seismic reforms. Will’s extensive reporting on the UK aid cuts saw him shortlisted for ‘Specialist Journalist of the Year’ in 2021 by the British Journalism Awards. He can be reached at william.worley@devex.com.
