UK Slashes Green Climate Fund Contribution, Loses Top Donor Status

The UK is no longer the top contributor to the UN’s Green Climate Fund (GCF) after the government announced it will only honor half of its latest pledge. In May, the Labour government reduced its commitment for 2024–27 to £815 million ($1.1 billion), a drastic cut from the £1.62 billion ($2.16 billion) pledged by the previous Conservative administration.

The Conservative pledge, described as “the biggest single funding commitment the UK has made to help the world tackle climate change,” had previously made the UK the GCF’s top funder. This followed the Trump administration’s withdrawal of $4 billion in pledged US funds in 2025. Now, the UK ranks behind Germany, France, and Japan in total contributions to the GCF.

UK’s GCF Contributions Drop Below Germany, France, and Japan

As the chart below illustrates, the UK’s total past and promised contributions to the GCF have fallen below those of Germany, France, and Japan. The GCF pledges by top 10 donors are shown, with dark bars representing pledges from the 2014 initial resource mobilization and the 2019 first replenishment round, and light blue bars indicating pledges from the 2023 second replenishment round. Source: NRDC GCF pledge tracker.

Green Climate Fund: A Vital Source of Climate Finance

The GCF is the largest dedicated UN climate fund, overseeing over $20 billion in funding across 354 projects and programs. Developed countries, including the UK, are obligated under the Paris Agreement to provide climate finance, primarily through specialized funds like the GCF. Despite commitments to increase climate finance over time, progress in scaling up contributions between funding rounds has been gradual.

The UK’s £1.62 billion pledge in 2023 had positioned it among donors that increased their GCF contributions compared to the 2019 funding round. However, the latest reduction means the UK will now provide around 45% less funding than in 2019—the largest reduction between rounds by any major donor, apart from the US.

GCF Executive Director Warns of Material Impact on Fund Delivery

“The UK’s actions are expected to have a material impact on the delivery of the fund’s projects.” — Mafalda Duarte, Executive Director of the Green Climate Fund

In an email to the GCF board, reported by the Financial Times, Duarte noted that the UK’s decision came as part of broader cuts to its aid budget to “invest more in addressing growing security threats.”

In March, the UK government announced plans to allocate “around £6 billion” of its aid budget to climate projects in developing countries over the next three years. However, Carbon Brief analysis suggests this spending amounts to roughly halving the UK’s annual climate finance when accounting for changes and inflation.