"One “inhuman” scheme has left behind “misery and trauma” in villages, residents say

The £33m aid project was designed to help poor Ugandan farmers deal with the impact of climate change.

But the reality saw their crops and homes destroyed in an “inhuman” project that left them “on the brink of starvation”.

Local government officials, who were guarded by armed security forces, razed crops, trees and homes as they claimed to be re-wilding wetland in a project run by the Green Climate Fund (GCF), which has received £2.6bn in UK taxpayers’ money.

It is one of a number of controversial projects uncovered in a seven-month investigation by The Telegraph into how the Government is spending £11.6bn in International Climate Finance (ICF).

On Friday, The Telegraph revealed how the public has paid for a £52m road to nowhere through the jungle in Guyana, rusting solar panels on schools in Zimbabwe and condoms in the Congo all under the guise of climate aid."

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"It comes as Sir Keir Starmer prepares to meet with world leaders at next week’s Cop30 summit in Brazil, where his spokesman said he would be “driving forward the agenda” on “restoring the UK as a global leader on climate action and green growth”.

But his government will face questions at home over their green agenda amid revelations that dozens of the programmes have been beset with allegations of fraud and waste.

The Telegraph can reveal that taxpayer money has also been spent on programmes accused of human rights abuses and for solar panels for one of the world’s richest hotel chains.

This publication has also established that a £70m carbon capture and storage programme, which was due to help the Chinese oil industry, closed without launching a single project.

In Uganda, a £33m project called “Building Resilient Communities, Wetland Ecosystems and Associated Catchments” is designed to improve “subsistence farmers’ ability to deal with climate impacts”.

It was singled out as a success story by UK officials and used as a case story as part of Defra’s “International Climate Finance Evidence Project”.

But in reality, the “inhuman” scheme has left “misery and trauma” in villages that were never officially designated as part of the wetlands, residents say."

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"The Marriott hotel in Kathmandu proudly announced that it was “taking bold steps” to a greener future by installing solar panels.

But what readers may not have realised is that the panels, at one of the world’s richest hotel chains, were paid for with the help of UK taxpayers."

"With every project announcement, including panels on a steel factory and a car dealership, the Nepal Renewable Energy Programme (NREP) reminds its followers that it was only possible with the “financial support” of the British embassy."

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"CCUS technologies are crucial for net zero plans as they capture carbon dioxide from sources such as power plants and industrial facilities. The Co2 can then be reused in products such as building materials or pumped underground to prevent it from harming the atmosphere.

But such technologies have been notoriously difficult to develop and have a long history of failing to deliver at high cost, often borne by taxpayers.

The pilots funded by the CCUS programme included a plan by a Chinese petroleum company to capture carbon from their chemical power plant and use it to help them get oil out of the ground.

But not a single project is operational as a result of UK funding."

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/11/01/taxpayers-bill-climate-project-destr...