Rishi Sunak has change of heart on COP27 after Boris Johnson says he’ll go

There is an outside chance the PM will make an appearance at the talks in Egypt if progress is made on tax and spend decisions.

Rishi Sunak meets patient Sreeja Gopalan at London’s Croydon hospital on Friday. Picture: Getty Images

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is reconsidering his decision to miss the COP27 climate conference after Boris Johnson indicated he could attend in person and King Charles announced a reception for environmentalists at Buckingham Palace.

Mr Sunak is still prioritising his preparations for the economic statement on November 17 after citing the need to tackle the domestic economic crisis for his decision to remain in the UK. But there is an outside chance that the Prime Minister will make a fleeting appearance at the talks in Egypt if progress is made on key tax and spend decisions, The Times understands.

US President Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron of France are among the leaders who are expected to attend the conference, which opens in Sharm-el-Sheik on Sunday. Mr Johnson is also keen to travel to Egypt after Glasgow hosted COP26 last year when he was prime minister.

Mr Sunak is said to be supportive of the former prime minister’s plans to go ahead with his own trip as part of Britain’s diplomatic effort to limit the rise in ­global temperatures to 1.5C despite alarm in Downing St at a rival British presence on the world stage. “Boris is a former prime minister and Rishi is supportive of anyone who wants to make the case for tackling climate change,” a No. 10 source said.

Mr Sunak’s decision not to ­attend the talks has drawn criticism from environmental campaigners and appeared to prompt a reaction from Buckingham Palace.

Charles, who is thought to be “champing at the bit” to attend, has announced plans to host a ­reception at the palace on Friday with more than 200 international business leaders, decision-makers and NGOs. It will mark the handover of the COP presidency from Britain to Egypt and came after No. 10 upheld the decision by Liz Truss – who lasted only 49 days as prime minister – to advise the King against travelling to Egypt.

Charles has invited Mr Sunak to attend his reception where the Prime Minister is expected to give a speech to guests including US climate envoy John Kerry.

Mr Kerry said last week that it would be “very powerful” if the King attended the conference and a person who knows Charles well told The Times last week that he was still eager to be there.

“He will be champing at the bit but knows it would need government blessing. The PM has reversed the fracking decision so this could be another smart environmentally focused move,” the source said.

Alok Sharma, the government’s climate tsar who remains COP president until Sunday, is among those who have also criticised Mr Sunak’s decision to avoid the conference. He warned the new Prime Minister that the Conservative Party risked electoral defeat if it abandoned its climate commitments and pointed to the example of the recent Australian elections where Liberal Party MPs were ousted by environmentally minded independent candidates. “If you look at what happened in the Australian elections in the past few months, one of the reasons that the conservatives didn’t win through is because people didn’t feel they took this issue seriously enough,” he told The Sunday Times.

China and India managed to reduce their commitments to phase out the use of coal during last-minute negotiations at last year’s conference.

The UN has issued dire predictions in the run-up to this year’s event, warning that the world will be 2.8C warmer by the end of the century. A report by the UN issued last week concluded that under the present trajectory there was “no credible” way to limit warming to 1.5C – the temperature at which scientists believe there will be a catastrophic impact on the climate.

Mr Johnson’s father, Stanley, said he hoped his son would represent the UK at the conference. The 82-year-old environmental campaigner criticised the policies pursued by Ms Truss, which ­included plans to sunset all EU laws by December 31, 2023, unless they had been reaffirmed by a minister. He said Mr Johnson needed to show that the UK no longer planned to scrap the laws, which include provisions to reach targets on nature recovery and the climate.

The Times