Rishi Sunak will attend next week’s COP27 after all, marking a U-turn on previous expectations that the UK prime minister would skip the global climate summit owing to “other pressing domestic 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 will bring together world leaders to discuss the climate crisis.
“There is no long-term prosperity without action on climate change. There is no energy security without investing in renewables,” Sunak tweeted.
“That is why I will attend COP27 next week: to deliver on Glasgow’s legacy of building a secure and sustainable future,” he said, in reference to the Scottish city that hosted last year’s COP26 summit.
Last week Downing Street said Sunak would be unable to attend because of “other pressing domestic commitments”, notably preparations for the Autumn Statement. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is due to deliver the fiscal statement on November 17.
Sunak, who served as UK chancellor under Boris Johnson, initially stated he would not attend COP27 because of diary constraints.
But the Financial Times reported at the weekend that Downing Street had shifted its position. One senior Whitehall official said on Tuesday that it was now “likely” that Sunak would attend on November 6, the day other world leaders would be present.
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