DFID works with partners such as the multilateral development banks, other governments and development agencies to support developing countries to achieve a low carbon future that reduces poverty.
Global CO2 emissions have risen by 2.7% each year in the past 100 years and 3.3% each year in the last five years on average.
Developed countries need to act first and fastest, but low carbon development is also crucial for developing countries. It is important that we engage with major emerging economies to help them avoid being locked in to the use of old technologies.
We need to identify where low carbon development can support economic growth and benefit poor people.
For example, increasing access to renewable energy has health benefits from a reduction in local air pollution. It can also result in reduced expenditure on kerosene or less time spent collecting firewood.
Improved energy supplies can also increase rural incomes and provide new jobs in sectors such as agro-processing.
Impact on women and girls
The benefits of clean, low carbon technologies improve the lives of some of the most vulnerable, especially women and girls. Across the globe, the collection and use of firewood, cow dung or other biomass for energy tends to be the time-consuming task of poor rural women.
It is estimated that inhalation of smoke and soot from these energy sources kills more than 500,000 women and even more children around the world every year.
Access to clean, renewable energy does not only bring women and girls benefits in health and save them time for education and productive activities.
For instance, in Orissa, India, we fund training for women to set up, operate and promote solar-powered electricity systems in 75,000 poor tribal households. Their new role as solar engineers has had transformative, empowering impacts on their lives and on their communities.
Our approach
We work in a range of ways to support low carbon development in our aid programmes.
Low carbon growth - we encourage developing countries to explore new ways of economic growth which both help to build people's resilience to the impacts of climate change and allow them to prosper in ways that emit fewer greenhouse gases. See Andrew Mitchell's speech to the Climate and Development Knowledge Network on low carbon growth in November 2010 (pictured right).
Energy efficiency - we support vehicles, buildings and industrial equipment which use energy efficiently.
Low carbon energy - we support programmes using solar, wind, nuclear, hydro and geothermal power, and biofuels. It is important that we address energy in a way that is sustainable in the long-term, that reduces dependencies on fossil fuels, and that contributes to energy security objectives and builds local resilience.
Clean technology innovation - we are funding work to help developing countries accelerate climate technology innovation. This could lead to the creation of new jobs and businesses and contribute to low carbon growth.
Finance sector - we are looking at what is needed, in addition to the carbon markets, to ensure private finance flows into the developing countries at a scale needed to meet the climate challenge.
Climate Investment Funds (CIFs) - we manage the UK's £715 million contribution to the $6 billion Climate Investment Funds, a multi-donor trust fund which aims to reduce poverty and help developing countries respond to climate change.
Carbon markets - carbon market mechanisms including the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) have the potential to transfer significant flows of climate finance from developed to developing countries and make a major contribution to the Copenhagen Accord commitment to deliver $100 billion per year by 2020 to developing countries.
To achieve this, there will need to be ambitious commitments from developed countries to tackle their greenhouse gas emissions - something we are pushing hard for in international negotiations.
The UK is also supporting reforms to the CDM that should help improve the efficiency, effectiveness and geographical distribution of projects and help scale-up carbon market finance to developing countries.