I was for many years Director of International Climate and Energy in the UK lead Ministry for Climate Change. Among my responsibilities was an official development assistance budget needing to be spend on tackling climate change, which totalled more than £3bn over a period of years. Such “climate finance” is relatively new compared to mainstream humanitarian aid which has been around for many decades, and the world has been on a rapid learning curve. There is a huge need for consolidating and disseminating this learning. Increasingly, low carbon and climate resilient solutions are available which are no more expensive, or even cheaper, than traditional alternatives. But often they are unfamiliar and countries can default to high carbon options because they are seen as familiar or safe. Given the scale and urgency of the climate change problem, there is potentially huge value in sharing cutting edge learning, particularly in the developing world 

The Grantham Research Institute has great expertise in climate, for example through its ground-breaking work on climate legislation, and very strong convening power and networks. 

Pete Betts CBE

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