UK climate leadership and international partnerships in action at London Climate Action Week
The UK Government has today announced a major new phase of its international clean energy leadership, confirming the extension of the Ayrton Fund to 2030 and an £88 million scale up of its flagship Transforming Energy Access (TEA) platform – strengthening global partnerships while supporting UK innovation, jobs and long-term economic resilience.
The announcement, made at the Ayrton Forum at the start of London during Climate Action Week, also includes the publication of the UK’s fourth International Climate Finance (ICF) strategy – setting out how the UK will mobilise finance, strengthen resilience and accelerate access to clean and affordable energy worldwide, while reinforcing the UK’s own security and prosperity.
The Ayrton Fund builds on innovative UK-international partnerships in more than 100 countries, which have already improved the lives of 46 million people across Africa, Asia and the Indo-Pacific, mobilised £3 billion in investment, and enabled more than a quarter of a million green jobs in the UK and abroad.
Today’s Ayrton Forum brings together more than 300 leaders from across business, finance, government, academia and civil society to celebrate the Fund’s achievements and discuss how to accelerate clean energy transitions in emerging economies ahead of 2030’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets.
Speaking at the event, Professor Sir John Edmunds, Chief Scientific Advisor at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, said:
“The future of development is about bringing innovation and investment together and delivering smarter, more sustainable and more diverse finance flows. Fairer access to knowledge, skills and technology, and ensuring countries and communities shape solutions.
“Ayrton exemplifies this – the UK working as an international partner – moving ideas from research into the real world by bringing together researchers, entrepreneurs, governments, investors and multilateral institutions.
In an uncertain and contested world, energy is the pivot issue on which so much rides – security, development, climate, and equality.
Through this work, these partnerships, this Forum, and this week in London, I am proud that the UK is playing its part in building a cleaner, fairer, healthier future for all.“
Launched in 2021, the Ayrton Fund brings together the UK Government’s ODA clean energy research, development and demonstration (RD&D) portfolio under a single cross government framework spanning the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero (DESNZ), and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).
It supports clean energy technology innovation, alongside the business models and systems needed to deploy them at scale. The Fund contributes to SDG7 on energy and SDG13 on Climate, and aligns with wider UK priorities, including the Global Clean Power Alliance (GCPA) and the Foreign Secretary’s priority of “accelerating the global clean energy transition while delivering opportunities for the UK”.
Since launch, UK-supported innovations have:
- Improved clean energy access for 46 million people in developing countries
- Leveraged £3 billion in additional public and private investment
- Reduced CO₂ emissions by 14 million tonnes – the same as the annual carbon footprint of 2.5 million people in the UK
- Enabled more than 256,000 green jobs globally
The Fund has also delivered clear benefits for the UK, supporting over 300 UK‑based organisations involved in clean energy research and innovation, and enabling more than 1,000 UK jobs. Examples of Ayrton-stimulated innovations include solar-powered irrigation systems, zero emission generators, sustainable cold chain technologies, green fertilizer, smart grids, clean industrial processes, and new energy storage solutions. These expand clean energy access, affordability and security, and underpin economic activity and resilience in regions especially vulnerable to fossil fuel price shocks.
Today’s Ayrton Forum will examine how innovation can move more quickly from trial phases to wider deployment, and the role of international partnerships in scaling technologies and attracting investment.
The event will feature six sessions focused on the key challenges and opportunities which Ayrton has been tackling, which are critical for clean energy transitions in developing countries:
- Electrifying Development – expanding access to electricity and increasing electrification as a share of energy use across households, businesses and social services.
- Green Industrialisation – supporting low-carbon industrial growth and reducing emissions in hard‑to‑abate sectors.
- Powering Inclusive Growth – driving jobs, entrepreneurship and economic development through clean energy solutions and just energy transitions.
- Leaving No One Behind – ensuring the benefits of modern energy reach the poorest and most vulnerable communities
- Green Grids – strengthening grid infrastructure and integrating clean energy supply with evolving demand.
- Supply Chain Innovation – building resilient, diverse and sustainable supply chains, including critical minerals, local manufacturing, and eWaste recycling.
Across these sessions, discussions will focus on how innovation can move from pilot to scale, with an emphasis on investment, partnerships and market development.
Notes to editors:
Ayrton Forum Speakers include:
- Professor Sir John Edmunds, FCDO Chief Scientific Adviser
- Professor Emily Shuckburgh, DESNZ Chief Scientific Adviser
- Rachel Kyte, UK Special Representative for Climate
- Shashi Buluswar Founder Co-CEO Institute for Transformative Technologies
- Yvo De Boer, Former Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC
- Valérie Levkov, Vice President for Infrastructure, World Bank
- Damilola Ogunbiyi, CEO and Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL)
- Hon. Okasaai Oplolot, Uganda’s Minister of State for Energy
- Jono West, Co-Founder, Mobile Power (MOPO)
- Abdurrahim Durmuş, Head of Department for Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Policies, Directorate of Climate Change, Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change of the Republic of Türkiye
- Andrew Reicher, Board Chair, Sunculture and Roam Electric. Investment Committee, Berkeley Energy
- Ashish Khanna Director General International Solar Alliance
- About the Ayrton Fund
- The Ayrton Fund is a UK Government International Climate Finance (ICF) commitment on clean energy innovation. It supports research, development and demonstration of new clean energy technologies and business models to accelerate the clean energy transition in developing countries, while demonstrating UK leadership in tackling global emissions through world‑leading innovations. It is jointly managed by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).
- About the Transforming Energy Access platform (TEA)
- Transforming Energy Access (TEA) is a research and innovation platform supporting early-stage testing and scale-up of new clean energy technologies and business models for developing countries across sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and the Indo-Pacific, while building the local skills and capabilities needed for a just and inclusive energy transition. It is one of the main delivery platforms for the UK government’s Ayrton Fund.
- For more information please contact: ze-gen@carbontrust.com