British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will not attend a major United Nations climate conference next month, the government said Thursday.
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Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Friday Britain had shown leadership on climate change, but it was right he focused on “pressing domestic challenges” rather than attend the COP27 climate summit in Egypt next month.
“The leadership that we have shown on the climate is unmatched almost along the world,” he told reporters when asked whether his decision not to attend showed a failure of leadership.
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“I’m very personally committed to it, and I just think at the moment it is right that I am also focusing on the pressing domestic challenges we have with the economy.”
Other senior U.K. government ministers are expected to attend.
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Mr. Sunak took office on Tuesday, replacing Ms. Liz Truss, who stepped down after a seven-week term in which her tax-cutting plans sparked economic and political mayhem.
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Officials from almost 200 countries are due to gather in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, starting November 6 to discuss how to tackle global warming at the conference known as COP27. Britain hosted last year's COP26 conference in Glasgow, Scotland, which was attended by then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Mr. Sunak’s spokeswoman said Britain remained committed to reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050, “and to leading international and domestic action to tackle climate change.”
Opposition Labour Party spokesman Ed Miliband said Mr. Sunak had made “a terrible decision.”
“These summits matter,” he told the BBC. “They are forcing mechanisms for action on the biggest issue we face as a world.”