£1bn to fight climate change

BRITISH scientists will have to access up to £1 billion of the foreign aid budget to help developing countries tackle climate change, Boris Johnson will announce today.

In a significant move ahead of today’s United Nations climate summit in New York, the Prime Minister will unveil plans for a fund aimed at developing practical technology that can help the world’s poor reduce their impact on the planet.

It comes as scientists say the past five years are on track to be the hottest in recorded history. Even the coldest part of the Earth is battling climate change, with experts saying that Arctic summer sea ice has declined at a rate of 12 per cent per decade over the past 40 years.

Mr Johnson said the Ayrton Fund – named after suffragette scientist Hertha Ayrton – would ‘back scientists and our world-leading tech industry, reducing emissions in the poorest countries with the help of homegrown talent’. He acknowledged the use of foreign aid money to fund British research was ‘innovative’, but said it would ‘benefit all of us and show how we can use our aid budget to tackle climate change’.

Downing Street said the project would count towards the controversial target of spending 0.7 per cent of Britain’s income on foreign aid. Sources insisted it was in line with international rules on aid spending, despite the fact that much of the cash could be spent with British universities and firms. No 10 said scientists from other countries would also be able to bid for the cash, but suggested the UK’s strength in the area could see it receive the lion’s share. Ministers hope the fund will help reduce public controversy over the £14 billion aid budget.

A TV game show in Ethiopia. Free productions of Shakespeare in Haiti. A study of coconuts in the Pacific. Just some of the hare-brained projects funded by Britain’s swollen foreign aid budget.

Yet, eager to avoid a political backlash from liberals, Mr Johnson refuses to scrap the misguided target of spending 0.7 per cent of national income on international development – now £14 billion a year.

Given that inflexible bind, he now says he will give £1 billion from the pot to scientists, including ones in Britain, to develop technology to help the world’s poorest countries fight climate change.

For once, a shrewd use of aid money. Will wonders never cease?