Responding to the launch of the Global Clean Power Alliance by the UK government, Sophie Powell, Christian Aid’s Chief of UK Advocacy, said:
“Global decarbonisation is essential, as a species we’re currently cooking ourselves with our addiction to dirty energy. Last year was the hottest year on record and 2024 is expected to beat that. It’s vital that we accelerate the global energy transition away from fossil fuels so any initiative that helps do that is welcome in principle.
“The details are currently pretty sketchy so it’s vital that this initiative includes human rights and environmental safeguards, especially as it seeks to promote the accelerated use of critical minerals, like lithium and cobalt.
“In order to effectively promote energy access for the most marginalised it must come with public finance. It’s easy for the private sector to make money investing in renewable energy in easy to reach, middle income countries. But for the remotest parts of the poorest countries, it will require grant funding to get the technology up and running.
“What has been announced today appears to be primarily focused on private finance initiatives. We agree these have a role to play but this is not in any way a substitute for the UK significantly stepping up on public finance. Attention must come back to the UK’s responsibility to push for an ambitious new finance goal at COP29, with public finance at its core, and a strong contribution from the UK itself, which can be raised through taxing the richest and biggest polluters.”
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