UK PACT (Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions)

UK PACT (Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions) is the UK's flagship climate technical assistance programme. The programme supports partner countries eligible for Official Development Assistance (ODA) to implement and increase their ambitions for carbon emission reductions and to accelerate their transition to clean growth.

The programme is funded by the UK Government, under the International Climate Finance (ICF) portfolio, as part of the UK Government's £11.6 billion commitment to support ODA-eligible countries to respond to the challenges and opportunities of climate change.

To support delivery of these goals, the Prime Minister recently announced the UK PACT programme will be extended with at least £200 million of new funding.

UK PACT will be commencing initial market engagement in October 2021, ahead of launching a procurement in early 2022. This procurement will be for the delivery of new Services on behalf of UK PACT from Autumn 2022 and to take over all remaining services from existing UK PACT Delivery Partners whose contracts expire in the first half of 2023. The new Services will be envisaged to run until 2027.

UK PACT provides grant funding and skill-shares Services for innovative and transformation projects across a current portfolio of 16 countries. Delivery Partners are contracted to deliver these Grant fund and Skill-share & Secondment management Services on behalf of the Authority.

Currently, a Delivery Partner will award Grants to Recipients, such as but not limited to Non-Government Organisations, local organisations, or charities who operate across a range of strategically important climate change areas such green finance, forests, clean energy and energy efficiency and sustainable transport. UK PACT also facilitates the sharing of specialist technical expertise with a Delivery Partner managing the delivery of Skill-shares and Secondments of individuals with high priority country partners.

UK PACT projects and skill-shares are delivered via three routes:

Country Programmes (roughly 70% of the total Fund value) awards Grant funding for capacity building projects in UK PACT's 8 - 10 partner countries' priority sectors, as agreed with the government of the country. Currently the UK PACT Country Programmes operates in eight countries - China, Colombia, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria and South Africa - and this number is expected to increase to a maximum of 10 for the new Services to be procured.

Green Recovery Challenge Fund (GRCF) (roughly 25% of the total Fund value) awards Grant-funding support for innovative capacity-building projects to promote emissions reductions and low carbon growth. The GRCF supports a broader range of ODA-eligible countries, including testing new markets for future UK PACT Country Programmes. The GRCF has previously funded projects in Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Peru and Thailand.

Skill-Shares and Secondments (roughly 5% of the total Fund value) supports partner countries through peer-to-peer capacity building and knowledge exchange. This includes short-term peer-to-peer skill shares with country counterparts and long-term secondments into key institutions. Skill-shares and Secondments occur with any country eligible for UK PACT Country Programmes or Challenge Fund. The skill-shares component manages a roster of around 200 contracted experts.

For further detail and background on the UK PACT programme, please visit www.ukpact.co.uk