Prime minister Rishi Sunak has tweeted that he will be attending the COP27 climate summit in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt, after his earlier decision not to travel faced criticism.
Downing Street had said that Sunak would not be making the trip due to more pressing priorities at home, such as preparing for the November 17 fiscal statement.
The climate summit is scheduled to run from November 6 to November 18, meaning that the autumn statement will clash.
Sunak’s official spokesman later said on Tuesday that “significant progress” had been made on the statement, suggesting that a change of plan may have been forthcoming.
The UK’s former business secretary and president of last year’s COP26 summit in Glasgow, Alok Sharma, was among the critics suggesting that Sunak should be present at the 2022 summit. He later said he was “delighted” by the PM’s change of mind.
Further pressure was also applied as former UK premier Boris Johnson confirmed that he would be making the trip.
Confirming his change of heart on Wednesday, Sunak wrote that there would be “no long-term prosperity without action on climate change” and that investment in renewable energy sources would be needed to shore up domestic energy security.
The PM added: “That is why I will attend @COP27P next week: to deliver on Glasgow's (COP26) legacy of building a secure and sustainable future.”
The Green party’s Caroline Lucas said that Sunak’s initial decision not to travel was an “embarrassing mis-step on the world stage” and that she was pleased to see him make a “screeching U-turn”.
She continued: “Let this be a lesson to him - climate leadership matters.”
Liberal Democrat climate change spokesperson Wera Hobhouse continued to criticise the PM, saying that he’d been “embarrassed” into travelling by the news that Boris Johnson would attend.
Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner also suggested that Sunak had been “dragged kicking and screaming into doing the right thing” by making the trip.
The COP summit is an annual event which sees world leaders come together to agree on initiatives to limit global temperature increases. US president Joe Biden, French president Emmanual Macron and Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon are among those who will be attending this year.
Despite being known for championing the green agenda and having spoken at COP26, King Charles III will not be making the trip following advice from the Liz Truss government that it would not be “the right occasion” for the monarch to attend.
