Rishi Sunak to attend COP27 in local weather summit U-turn

Rishi Sunak will attend subsequent week’s COP27 in spite of everything, marking a U-turn on earlier expectations that the UK prime minister would skip the worldwide local weather summit owing to “different urgent home commitments”.

In a tweet on Wednesday, Sunak confirmed he would go to the summit in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt, to be held from November 6 to 18, which can convey collectively world leaders to debate the local weather disaster.

“There is no such thing as a long-term prosperity with out motion on local weather change. There is no such thing as a vitality safety with out investing in renewables,” Sunak tweeted.

“That’s the reason I’ll attend COP27 subsequent week: to ship on Glasgow’s legacy of constructing a safe and sustainable future,” he stated, in reference to the Scottish metropolis that hosted final yr’s COP26 summit.

The Egyptian COP27 president-designate stated on Wednesday that greater than 100 heads of state would be a part of for the leaders summit, which takes place on the primary two days. US president Joe Biden is predicted to reach on the finish of the primary week, following the midterm elections.

Final week Downing Avenue stated Sunak can be unable to attend due to “different urgent home commitments”, notably preparations for the Autumn Assertion. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is because of ship the fiscal assertion on November 17.

Sunak, who served as UK chancellor beneath Boris Johnson, initially acknowledged he wouldn’t attend COP27 due to diary constraints. However the Monetary Occasions reported on the weekend that Downing Avenue had shifted its place.

One senior Whitehall official stated on Tuesday that it was now “possible” that Sunak would attend on November 6, the day many world leaders start to reach.

Ed Miliband, shadow local weather secretary, stated Sunak had been shamed into attending the convention by a “torrent of disbelief”.

“Rishi Sunak goes to keep away from embarrassment to not present management,” Miliband stated. “But once more we see a chief minister who solely makes selections for causes of political administration not the nationwide curiosity.”