Rishi Sunak expressed joy over King Charles’ strong support for climate change issues and stated that the monarch will be issuing a “call to arms” during his opening statement at the Cop28 climate summit.
Sunak expressed his pride in witnessing Charles give his speech on Friday, believing it reflects the type of leadership that our country embodies.
The leader of our country is present and has given a powerful speech at the beginning, indicating the high level of esteem he holds on this global issue.
I am accompanied by the leader of our government, our main representative, and the foreign affairs secretary. Only a handful of nations can make the same statement that I have just made.
The prime minister addressed the media, denying any claims that Downing Street had influenced the queen’s statements and schedule. In the previous year, Prince Charles, a passionate advocate for climate action, was not able to attend Cop27 due to Chancellor Sunak’s prolonged consideration of his attendance for just one day.
The spokesperson for the prime minister previously stated that Sunak and the king’s Cop28 schedules were created to “enhance, not replicate” each other.
This will be the inaugural evaluation of nations’ advancement towards this objective, known as the “worldwide stocktake,” during Cop28.
Sunak recently attended a meeting, during which he reduced a number of promises aimed at achieving the UK’s goal of net zero emissions by 2050. He also promised to fully utilize the country’s oil and gas resources by issuing new drilling licenses in the North Sea. His former colleagues have accused him of showing little concern for the environment.
In September, he pushed back the deadline for banning new diesel and petrol cars to 2035, weakened efforts to remove harmful gas and oil boilers, and eliminated the mandate for improving energy efficiency in homes. He justified these decisions by stating that meeting climate goals should not be a burden on the public.
After facing backlash for initially deciding not to attend Cop27 in 2022, the prime minister has now pledged to be present at the climate conference. This sudden change of plans was made after receiving criticism and has been referred to as a last-minute U-turn.
Sunak maintained that the UK is at the forefront of addressing the climate emergency, despite dismissing accusations that the country is no longer a committed collaborator at Cop due to his actions in weakening the UK’s environmental commitments.
Prior to the summit, he faced criticism for his actions regarding the climate crisis. Despite heading to the summit in Dubai, he stated that his updated net zero goals proved he was not controlled by extremist beliefs.
The UK’s prime minister announced intentions to distribute approximately £1.6bn towards climate-related initiatives at the summit. It was also stated that the UK is on track to surpass its goal of investing £11.6bn over the span of five years until 2026.
The UK is being accused by charities and non-governmental organizations of only meeting the target for climate aid by changing their calculation methods, which would result in a significant shortfall if not done.
Source: theguardian.com
