The UK Foreign Secretary announced new British funding for green industry in developing countries during a speech at COP31 in Antalya on 11 November 2026, according to the text published by GOV.UK. The address was given at an event titled "Seizing the Green Industrial Opportunity: Investment, Jobs, and Growth for Every Economy".
New funding
The Foreign Secretary said the UK was launching the Green Industrial Demand Accelerator, with £90 million behind it. Its purpose, according to the speech, is to build future demand for green industry in developing nations. A further £45 million would be used to pilot new technologies, with the aim of keeping the 1.5 degrees target attainable.
Closing the finance gap
The Foreign Secretary argued that openings exist for every country, but that many sound plans are still waiting for money. Britain's G20 Presidency next year will aim to steer additional capital toward developing nations and emerging markets, the speech said. Governments, industry and finance must cooperate so that national plans become projects that attract real investment, according to the Foreign Secretary.
Two existing efforts were cited. Under the Global Clean Power Alliance Finance Mission, run in partnership with Brazil, the UK has backed eight industrial decarbonisation and hydrogen projects as they move toward final investment decisions. Separately, the Industrial Transition Investment Platform is the route through which the UK is working with Indonesia to build a pipeline of clean industrial schemes.
Jobs and the UK experience
The speech described two crises: an economic one, in which many people lack the jobs and pay they want, and the climate crisis. Green industrialisation, the Foreign Secretary said, answers both, pointing to forecasts of nearly 10 million jobs worldwide by 2030.
In the UK, a green economy is taking shape across offshore wind, power networks, carbon capture and small modular reactors, according to the speech. The Foreign Secretary said it is expanding three times as fast as the broader economy and employs over one million workers, crediting this to the stable framework that the government's climate change commitments have given private firms, while conceding that "we haven't got everything right".
Workers and a just transition
The Foreign Secretary said the shift must benefit workers, highlighting fair treatment for people employed in fossil-fuel industries as well as the quality of jobs in new clean-energy sectors, including the part played by trade unions and strong workplace standards. The speech also commended the COP31 Presidency for making electrification a central theme of the summit.
