The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has criticized the UK government for spending more money on measures that will increase greenhouse gas emissions than on those that will reduce them.

The criticism from the conservation charity comes ahead of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP26 as it is more commonly known, that runs between November 1 and November 12.

The UK has made much of its presidency this time round and the government's lead, former Business Secretary Alok Sharma, has been traveling the globe to drum up support and commitments for a concerted push to drive down weather-changing emissions.

But the WWF has now identified what it considers weaknesses in the UK's own spending plans.

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Environmental analysts claim that only $180 million has been earmarked for environmental spending, whereas $50 billion is being lost in tax breaks that encourage fossil fuel use.

Isabella O'Dowd, the head of climate at WWF, said: "The spring budget showed a disconnect between the government's rhetoric and the reality of what it's doing. The ambition is great, but now we really need to see the policies that will deliver."

This assessment comes with the latest United Nations' assessment of the climate situation painting the bleakest picture yet of humanity's prospects for the rest of this century and beyond.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns of increasingly extreme heatwaves, droughts and flooding, and a key temperature limit being broken in just over a decade.

That eventuality has been defined by the head of the UN as "a Code Red for humanity."

Those findings and the WWF report put more pressure on a government that some say is unprepared for the challenge of meeting its own targets as well as corralling the agendas of different countries at an international conference.

Tensions over the government's commitment to net-zero emissions, and the potential cost of achieving them, are said to be growing within government – particularly between UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak.

The WWF has pointed to the benefits of new jobs, health benefits and infrastructure that could benefit the economy to the tune of more than $100 billion if the government pursues a greener agenda.

The WWF has proposed a net-zero test so that all policies would have to be proved to contribute to the net-zero emissions target, or at least be compatible with it, in order to be adopted.

A Treasury spokesman said: "The UK is a world leader in the global effort to tackle climate change, growing our economy by 78 percent while cutting emissions by 44 percent over the past three decades and being the first major economy to legislate to reach net-zero emissions by 2050."

It is the policies to deliver that legislation that remain in doubt.