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Written question asked by Helen Hayes (Labour) on Friday, 21 February 2020, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 26 February 2020 (named day). It was answered by James Duddridge (Conservative) on Wednesday, 26 February 2020 on behalf of the Department for International Development.

Private Infrastructure Development Group: Development Aid

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what estimate her Department has made of how much UK aid has been disbursed through the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG); and what assessment her Department has made of the extent to which the PIDG has funded projects involving (a) gas, (b) coal and (c) oil.

Answer

DFID has disbursed $1,036 million to the Private Investment Development Group (PIDG) between 2002 and 2018.

During this 16-year period, PIDG has made a number of infrastructure investments in the poorest countries to increase access to power, some of which use fossil fuels to generate electricity. Of these investments, (a) $396.6 million has been to projects using gas as a fuel source, (b) $1.7 million using coal, (c) $141.9 million using oil, and (d) $210.2 million with mixed or hybrid fuel sources. The coal funding was for early-stage advisory services provided in 2008 to a prospective power project in Indonesia.

Over the same period, PIDG has invested $711 million in renewable power projects.

PIDG does not invest in the extraction of fossil fuels, with the exception of one-off funding of $500,000 (£273,000) in 2004 for technical assistance to the Government of Mozambique on the feasibility of establishing a coal mine in the town of Moatize in Mozambique. No follow-on funding was provided to support this project. PIDG’s strategy now rules out any investing in coal.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
18705
Session
2019-21
Subjects
Development aid Fossil fuels Private Infrastructure Development Group
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk