The UK has announced major new support of up to £274 million at COP26 in Glasgow to strengthen the resilience of vulnerable communities, economies and the environment against the impacts of climate change, and promote low carbon growth across the Indo-Pacific.

Climate Action for a Resilient Asia (CARA) is a 7-year programme to deliver projects in areas known to strengthen climate resilience. This includes funding projects that mobilise climate finance, strengthen water security, conserve ecosystems and biodiversity, and help vulnerable communities lead local adaptation efforts.

Partnering with governments, regional institutions, cities, local communities and the private sector, this new regional programme will promote nature-based solutions, better climate change policy and planning, enhance weather and climate forecasting services, and support urban resilience.

The programme aims to support up to 14.4 million people to better adapt to climate change, generate approximately £1.4 billion of public and private finance for climate resilience, and protect to up £130 million worth of natural ecosystem and biodiversity.

UK Minister for Asia, Amanda Milling MP said:

Climate change does not respect borders. Countries across the Indo-Pacific region are on the frontlines of the climate crisis, with vulnerable communities threatened by rising seas, frequent typhoons and drought.

This major new support from the UK, delivered through a range of regional partners, will help local communities, cities and governments to strengthen their resilience to climate change and promote low carbon growth.

Biodiversity will be protected, weather forecasting improved, cities designed to withstand floods and storms, and funds mobilised to the grassroots community groups that need them most.

The CARA programme will explicitly strengthen the resilience of South Asian, Southeast Asian, and Pacific countries, through a series of partnership programmes led by the Met Office (the UK’s national meteorological service), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the World Bank (WB), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and ICIMOD – the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development.

ADB Vice-President Bambang Susantono, said:

Strengthening climate resilience is a key front in the battle against climate change.

As Asia and the Pacific’s climate bank, the Asian Development Bank is committed to working with our regional and international partners, such as the Government of the United Kingdom, to ensure financing and support goes where it’s needed the most: to urban areas and local communities so we can preserve natural ecosystems and prioritise development that support the lives and livelihoods of millions of people, particularly the poor and vulnerable.

Izabella Koziell, Deputy Director General, ICIMOD said:

The Hindu Kush Himalayan Region (HKH) is on the frontline of the climate and biodiversity crisis and is one of the most disaster and conflict prone regions of the world. CARA’s support to ICIMOD comes at an important moment, which will help build more resilient landscapes and livelihoods in the region, and will support the taking forward of theMountain of Opportunity Investment Framework – agreed with our eight Regional Member Countries and introduced at COP26.

Helen Bye, Met Office Principal Advisor to FCDO, said:

We are excited at the opportunity to continue the work of the ARRCC programme in Asia, co-producing weather and climate services with our partners in the region to build resilience to a changing climate.

Mr. Christophe Bahuet, Deputy Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, UNDP said:

UNDP is very pleased to join FCDO’s new Climate Action for a Resilient Asia (CARA) initiative which aims to strengthen the resilience of vulnerable communities, economies and the environment to the impacts of climate change across the Indo-Pacific. As part of CARA, UNDP’s Climate Finance Network will focus on assisting countries in their efforts to more effectively mobilise and utilise climate finance whilst promoting gender equality, human rights and poverty reduction towards the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

Hartwig Schafer, Regional Vice President, South Asia Region, World Bank said:

Climate change is forcing South Asia to adapt to a changing annual monsoon, melting glaciers, and shrinking coastlines. This generous funding from the United Kingdom will help the region’s resilience to better manage climate risks and reduce the poverty and vulnerability of millions of people.

The CARA programme aims to improve climate resilience across the three areas identified as top priorities in the Global Commission for Adaptation’s (GCA) landmark report A Global Call for Leadership on Climate Resilience : improving understanding of risk, better policy and planning and mobilising finance.

CARA’s six partnership programmes are:

• ADB – Community Resilience Partnership Program – Up to £45 million to help scale up investments in climate adaptation at the community level, that explicitly address the nexus between climate, poverty, and gender.
• ADB – Urban Resilience Trust Fund – Up to £70 million to build capacity of cities and national and subnational urban agencies, communities, and private sector to integrate climate resilience into their policies and planning.
• ICIMOD – HKH Resilience Enabling Action Programme – Up to £20 million to support conservation of natural ecosystems and biodiversity across the Hindu-Kush-Himalayan (HKH) region.
• The Met Office – Asia Pacific Regional Resilience to a Changing Climate (ARRCC) – Up to £18 million to improve peoples’ resilience to weather extremes and climate change with enhanced weather and climate information.
• UNDP – Climate Finance Network – Up to £20 million to provide technical assistance to governments on climate aligned domestic budgetary systems and leveraging innovative climate finance.
• World Bank – Resilient Asia Program – Up to £50 million to strengthen climate resilience in Asia through building regional capacity and expertise to manage climate risk.

By bringing this range of partners and expertise together, and taking a regional, transboundary approach, CARA will help to improve learning and knowledge sharing, and deliver greater collective impact in building resilience across the region.

CARA will also include a Flexible Technical Assistance Fund to allow FCDO to deliver responsive and innovative programming across the region.

This is a new programme providing adaptation finance from the UK, through a mix of technical assistance and capital investments. It contributes to the UK’s commitment to provide £11.6 billion in International Climate Finance (ICF), including £3 billion towards protecting nature and biodiversity. CARA will also contribute to the UK commitment to Risk-informed Early Action Partnership (REAP) and the ‘Glasgow Imperative’.

• £290 million in new UK funding to be announced, including support for countries in the Asia Pacific to deal with the impact of global warming

• Billions in additional international funding has already been committed under the UK’s COP6 presidency for adaption and resilience, as climate-linked disasters become more frequent

The UK will today (Monday 8 November) convene ministers from across the globe to urge action within the next decade to make our world resilient to the impacts of climate change, at COP26 Adaptation Loss and Damage Day.

UK International Champion on Adaptation and Resilience for the COP26 Presidency Anne-Marie Trevelyan will lead the meeting, as the world faces increasingly frequent and severe extreme weather and natural disasters.

In 2021 alone, climate change is believed to have contributed to devastating drought in southern Madagascar, flash flooding in Germany and China, and wildfires in Greece and the US, leading to loss of life and livelihoods. Developing countries and small island states are the most acutely at risk.

Even if we get on track to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, we will still need to deal with increasing impacts like these. More investment and faster action to help vulnerable countries adapt to climate change and minimise and address loss and damage is needed well before 2030 to prevent further catastrophe and suffering.

To support global efforts to tackle the impacts of climate change, today the UK will announce new funding totalling £290 million, including:

• £274 million to help countries across Asia and the Pacific better plan and invest in climate action, improve conservation and deliver low carbon development;
• £15 million for the Adaptation Fund which backs developing countries to lead action where they most need it;
• £1 million to support delivery of faster and more effective global humanitarian action, including in response to climate-related disasters.

This comes in addition to almost £50 million in new UK support announced in the first week of COP26 to help small island states develop resilient infrastructure to withstand climate shocks and support capacity-building for their access to funding and technical solutions.

Speaking ahead of today’s event, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, UK International Champion on Adaptation and Resilience for the COP26 Presidency, said:

We must act now to stop climate change from pushing more people into poverty. We know that climate impacts disproportionately affect those already most vulnerable.

We are aiming for significant change that will ultimately contribute to sustainable development and a climate resilient future for all, with no one left behind.

CDC, the UK’s development finance institution, will also announce plans today to join a group of donors in committing to substantially increase investments in climate adaptation and resilience to support vulnerable developing and emerging countries.

This builds on the launch last week of a new ‘Clean Green Initiative’ by Prime Minister Boris Johnson to help developing countries take advantage of green technology and grow their economies sustainably. To support this, the UK will deliver over £3 billion in climate financing over the next five years, including £200 million for a new Climate Innovation Facility to scale-up technologies to help deal with the impacts of climate change, such as drought-resistant agriculture and sustainable forestry, in markets where private investors have been reluctant to take on the risk alone.

Today’s UK announcements build on new pledges amounting to billions of pounds in support for vulnerable countries from other developed nations, including Australia, Canada, Denmark, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland and the US. Further pledges are expected today.

Alongside new state commitments, today’s event will also see representatives from frontline communities given a platform to share their experiences of climate impacts and showcase solutions being implemented on the ground.

Emily Bohobo N’Dombaxe Dola, facilitator of the Adaptation Working Group of the official youth constituency to the UNFCCC, YOUNGO, will speak at today’s event. She said:

I was drawn to climate action after seeing first-hand the impacts of climate change on local coastal communities in Senegal, both impacts already there and those yet to come.

It is the socially marginalised and geographically vulnerable across both Northern and Southern societies that already suffer the most due to natural disasters and shifting weather patterns, from working-class and refugee communities, through to people with disabilities, the elderly, women and young girls.

Yet, I have encountered countless displays of resilience by these communities and local actors. Now it is time for governments and donors to level up on equitable finance and plans for loss and damage and for adaptation.

Building on existing collaboration as co-chairs of the Adaptation Action Coalition, the UK and Egypt are expected to confirm plans to work together to drive further action on adaptation ahead of the next UN climate change conference in 2022.

Over twenty foreign, climate/environment, planning, or finance ministers are expected to join the Adaptation Loss and Damage Day ministerial session, including Bangladesh, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominica, Egypt, the EU Commission, Fiji, Germany, Ghana, Grenada, India, Italy, Kenya, Malawi, Morocco, Nepal, the Maldives, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Slovenia, Sudan, St Lucia, UAE, Uganda, the US.

The UK has announced £290 million in new funding, comprised of:

• £274 million for the Climate Action for a Resilient Asia (CARA) programme to help Indo-Pacific countries mobilise climate finance, strengthen water security, conserve ecosystems, and help vulnerable communities lead local adaptation efforts.
• £15 million for the global Adaptation Fund which backs developing countries to lead action in line with their priorities.
• £1 million for the Start Network Start Financing Facility to help deliver faster, more efficient and effective global humanitarian action, including in response to climate impacts.
• These announcements come in addition to a suite of UK and international action on the impacts of climate change announced in the opening week of COP26, including new UK funding of £143.5 million to support African countries to adapt and a new UK guarantee to the African Development Bank, expected to unlock up to £1.45 billion worth of new financing, half of which will help countries adapt.