Actor Theo James urges more support for refugees hit by climate crisis

Actor and UNHCR goodwill ambassador Theo James has said refugees should be included in climate policy. He is heading to COP29 to call for greater support for those affected by climate change's impact.

James, whose grandfather was a refugee who fled Greece for Syria during World War Two, will attend the climate summit in Baku with the U.N. refugee agency and refugee advocates.

The "Gentlemen" and "Divergent" actors traveled to Mauritania's southeastern Hodh Chargui region last month, meeting refugees who had fled conflict in Mali for an area already facing poverty, limited access to basic services, and climate shocks.

The semi-arid Sahel has been hit by increasing weather extremes, including higher temperatures and drought.

Actor and UNHCR goodwill ambassador Theo James helps plant a tree at Mbera refugee camp in the Hodh Chargui region, in Mauritania, October 8, 2024. UNHCR/Caroline Irby/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT.

"Refugees do not contribute to the vast majority of rising global temperatures and carbon emissions, but they are on the frontline of suffering," James told Reuters.

In its first climate report released on Tuesday, the UNHCR said three out of four forcibly displaced people worldwide - 90 million out of 120 million - lived in countries exposed to high to extreme climate change impacts.

“Now the UNHCR has ... specific data which links the climate crisis to forcibly displaced people and the refugee crisis, we need to amplify the message that those two things are intimately interlinked," James said. "They will forever be hand in hand and more so in the future."

The summit has been dubbed the "climate finance COP" for its central goal: agreeing on how much money should be allocated each year to help developing countries cope with climate-related costs.