Rishi Sunak will attend the Cop27 meeting in Egypt the following week after changing his earlier decision not to go. The Prime Minister made the following statement: “There is no long-term prosperity without action on weather change.”The Prime Minister has stated that he will be present at COP27 the following week. This comes after he received a significant amount of criticism for his choice not to create an impact, which he had initially explained as being because he was concentrating on matters concerning his family.
Rishi Sunak’s decision was challenged by both the President of the COP, Alok Sharma, and the Egyptian government, which both stated that climate change is just as much of an urgent local concern as any other. This morning, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that he would be attending, which added more pressure on Sunak to make an appearance. It also led to accusations from the right wing of the Conservative party, which is more dubious about the effects of climate change, that he was caving in to pressure by making this decision.
At the beginning of this week, Number 10 confirmed that the job was “under review.”
It comes as Mr Sunak is preparing for his second round of Prime Minister’s Questions and is facing pressure over proposed tax increases as well as the migration problem in southern England. According to Wera Hobhouse, “This defeat has proved that Rishi Sunak does not consider the environment to be a priority.” The fact that Boris Johnson will be there is the only thing that has convinced him to go. We need more than simply the Prime Minister’s presence at this meeting; we need him to take action.
“Building more renewables, which are the most reasonable and popular kind of energy, and safeguarding our chilly and draughty houses would expedite progress toward net zero, lower energy costs, and enhance the UK’s energy security,” said one researcher.