UK PM Rishi Sunak to skip global COP27 climate summit in Egypt due to domestic priorities

UK PM Rishi Sunak has decided that he will give a miss to the COP27 climate summit, as per a report by Politico. The COP27 climate summit is being held in Egypt and earlier, the Kremlin had announced that Russia President Vladimir Putin will not be attending the summit as well because no major agreements are expected this year. The British prime minister's office has said that his decision to not go to the summit does not indicate that he is not concerned about climate change. 

“It is a recognition of other pressing domestic commitments, not least preparations for the autumn budget. We remain committed to net zero and to leading international and domestic action to tackle climate change. The UK is forging ahead of many other countries on net zero," said a spokesperson for the 10 Downing Street. The COP26 summit was held in Glasgow as the UK held the presidency for COP26 summit. UK PM Rishi Sunak is facing a significant number of challenges, the most urgent one is the economy of the UK or to be more precise, the lack of investor confidence in the UK. He has stated that he will restore trust in the UK's economy and gain the confidence of markets.

Rishi Sunak's decision on fracking welcomed by environmentalists 

Rishi Sunak has made a decision recently, or rather gone back on a decision of Liz Truss regarding fracking in the UK, which has been welcomed by environmentalists. “This is a welcome early sign from the new prime minister," said Craig Bennett, the chief executive of the Wildlife Trusts, as per a report by the Guardian. Environmentalists consider fracking bad for the environment and during the PMQs, Sunak promised that he will not push for fracking unless the local community greenlights it and domain experts assure him that the area can be fracked without causing any harm to the environment. 

Rishi Sunak faces domestic challenges 

The UK will head for the general elections within two years. During the last election, Boris Johnson won a historic mandate by winning the 'red wall seats'. 'Red wall seats' refers to electoral seats in the UK, primarily in Northern England, which have been dominated by the Labour party for decades. Johnson won those seats by promising to 'level up' i.e. create a more interventionist state which actively seeks to direct funds to the poorer areas of Northern England and create jobs in those regions. In his first speech as prime minister, Rishi Sunak spoke about 'levelling up' and during his first PMQs, he repeated the phrase 'compassionate conservatism' several times, indicating that he will formulate policies that take into account the lives of left behind towns.