Britain's Rishi Sunak will attend COP27 in Egypt this month, he said on Wednesday, after his office previously said the new prime minister was expected to skip the annual climate summit.
On his Twitter handle, Sunak on Tuesday wrote: "There is no long-term prosperity without action on climate change. There is no energy security without investing in renewables. That is why I will attend @COP27P next week: to deliver on Glasgow's legacy of building a secure and sustainable future."
He basically hinted at the deal -- meant to ensure that the world still has a chance to avert the worst impacts of global warming -- struck in the British city at last year's event.
Sunak had faced criticism from climate activists, opposition politicians and even some within his own party after his office said last week he was expected to skip the 27th session of the United Nations Climate Change Conference to focus on "pressing domestic commitments".
On Tuesday, former prime minister Boris Johnson said he would attend COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh.
The UK hosted last year's COP (Conference Of The Parties) in Glasgow.
Sunak on Friday defended his previous decision not to attend the summit, saying he had to focus on ‘pressing' economic problems.
In an interview with Sky News a day after Downing Street announced he was skipping the summit, the prime minister stressed he was ‘very personally committed' to environmental issues.
‘I just think at the moment it's right that I'm also focusing on the pressing domestic challenges we have with the economy, and I think that's what people watching would reasonably expect me to be doing as well,' Sunak said.
The COP27 UN climate change conference takes place in Egypt on November 7-8, two weeks after Sunak became prime minister.
Sunak, who became Britain's third prime minister in two months last week, has been working with finance minister Jeremy Hunt on a package of tax rises and spending cuts to repair the country's public finances, with a plan due Nov. 17.
"The prime minister has been shamed into going to COP27 by the torrent of disbelief that he would fail to turn up," the opposition Labour Party's climate policy spokesperson Ed Miliband said. "He is going to avoid embarrassment not to provide leadership."
Britain's COP26 president Alok Sharma, who had criticised Sunak's initial decision to skip the summit in a newspaper interview, said he was "delighted" the prime minister was going to the conference.
