PM Sunak now says he will attend COP27

Wednesday, November 2nd 2022 - 20:13 UTC

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Sunak was persuaded that climate issues matter

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak finally changed his mind once again and announced Wednesday that he will be attending the COP27 Climate Summit later this week in Egypt.

Sunak reversed his decision “to fulfill the Glasgow legacy of building a secure and sustainable future,” about COP26 held last year at the Scottish city.

“There is no long-term prosperity without action on climate change. There is no energy security without investing in renewable energy. That's why I will be attending COP27 next week,” Sunak tweeted.

Sunak's office had announced he would miss the event starting next Sunday due to urgent engagements at home, including the government's budget proposal to be announced on Nov. 17.

King Charles III announced he would not be attending the event almost as soon as he succeeded Queen Elizabeth II. Former Prime Minister Liz Truss had already expressed herself against the monarch's participation and so did Sunak after taking office in one of the few things stemming from his predecessor that survived the government shakeup after less than 2 months.

Sunak took heavy flak -he was even dubbed “a phony”- from the entire political spectrum both at home and abroad for his decision not to attend COP27, which apparently carried some weight in his change of mind.

Had he stayed in office long enough, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson would have indeed appeared at such a relevant gathering of world leaders and had expressed his intention to do so.

MP Alok Sharma said he was “delighted” by the premier's change of decision. The UK holds the rotating presidency of the Conference of the Parties (COP) and hosted last year's summit in Glasgow, Scotland.

Green Party lawmaker Caroline Lucas called Sunak's change of heart ”an embarrassing stumble on the world stage (...) Let this be a lesson to him: climate leadership matters,” she said on Twitter.