Tory donors have benefitted from more than £1 million in contracts for the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, the Daily Record can reveal.
A Freedom of Information request has shown that the UK Government splashed out nearly £1m on an American consultancy firm based in Boston.
Global leaders, political and religious, will attend the summit, to be held from October 31 to November 12, in what is seen as a critical moment for the future of the planet.
The conference is seen as the most significant since COP21 in Paris in 2015. In Glasgow, leaders will work to ensure that global warming is kept to 1.5 degrees.
Between April 2020 and January 2021 the UK Government splashed out £983,668 of taxpayers money on the Boston Consulting Group.
The consultancy firm has given the Tory party £129,411.12 in donations since 2009.
Work carried out was for the "provision of consultancy for COP26 support, providing strategy implementation, strengthening the project management function and supporting the high level champions workstreams."
While, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) has received £92,161 worth of contract payments for COP26 for "a piece of research for the COP26 Unit on the potential economics to Glasgow and the UK of hosting the Conference".
Money was paid for the work between August 2020 to this month.
PWC has donated £577,183.28 to the Tories since 2008.
The SNP has accused the Tories of cronyism.
Deidre Brock MP said: "Given the Tory government's track record of cronyism, they only have themselves to blame that people are now asking questions about the use of private contracts at COP26.
"It's vital that there is an independent judge-led public inquiry into why so many Tory friends and donors have been handed privileged access, lucrative jobs, peerages, and millions of pounds worth of publicly-funded contracts at the taxpayer's expense."
Monica Lennon, Scottish Labour's Net Zero, Energy and Transport spokesperson, said: “This is deeply worrying.
"The eyes of the world are on Glasgow and it seems that the Tories are more than happy to use COP26 as an excuse to hand out lucrative contracts to donors.
"This reeks of cronyism - we need COP26 to be treated as the potentially vital conference that it should be, not an opportunity for more hand-outs for friends of the Tory party."
A UK Government spokesperson said: "COP26 will bring the world together to commit to real action on tackling climate change and delivering a green recovery, while showcasing the UK's global leadership.
"Any organisations working with the UK Government to help achieve an inclusive, ambitious and successful summit are contracted in line with Public Sector Procurement Guidelines."
How much has the UK Government spent?
Boston Consulting Group - £983,668
UNITAR - £24,000
PWC - £92,161
Cision Group Limited - £15,050
To sign up to the Daily Record Politics newsletter, click here.
