The Spanish government has said that part of the ways the UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak can demonstrate a clear commitment to fighting the climate emergency is by attending the upcoming climate change summit in Egypt.
Spain’s environment minister, Teresa Ribera described the handling of the pm’s attendance of the forthcoming Cop27 summit as “sad” and “surprising”, given the UK’s global reputation and its current presidency of the conference.
Ribera also said that the “absurd”, heel-dragging political debate over climate change in the UK was “surprising and disappointing, adding that Europe needed to be strategic, transparent and purposeful – especially in the wake of a report that found temperatures on the continent have increased at more than twice the global average in the past 30 years.
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Ribera also insisted that the UK had an important role to play in tackling the climate emergency while pointing out that the country still retains the Cop presidency following last year’s summit.
“I am been disconcerted by Sunak’s initial refusal to attend the conference and by the British government’s decision to request that King Charles did not go to the talks,” said Ribera, one of Spain’s three deputy prime ministers.
Ribera however welcomed Sunak’s U-turn on attending but said that she hoped it would be more than a “token step” and that it would be matched by meaningful policies.
“What matters is domestic action, and I think that’s another of the lessons that we’ve seen with the election of Lula [Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the new president] in Brazil now and with the election in Australia [won by Labor] and in so many other places,” she said. “The fight against climate change isn’t sorted at Cops – it’s sorted at the ballot boxes of each and every country. And I think it’s important that the British prime minister makes it clear that his commitment is the one we expect from a country such as the UK,” she said.
The minister admitted that explaining the injustice, inequality and suffering wrought by the failure to address the climate emergency was difficult, as was breaking old habits.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
