Someone in my network, asked whether we thought the just appointed Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, should attend the COP27 in Sharm El Sheik, as he has said that he won’t be going.
I don’t, frankly, trust Sunak to ‘sort out’ anything (domestic or global). While accepting that there are some international elements to the UK’s current range of challenges (economic recovery from COVID being one), the majority and the magnitude of them all, are down to the ideology of successive ministries since May 2010, which built on that of Thatcher from 1979 to 1990. Similar politics have been followed elsewhere but these are all largely domestic choices in origin or impact. Sunak is simply the next in this line of far right ideologues.
While our escalating environmental and humanitarian crisis is global in its impact, and there are many countries that need urgent help, the more affluent economies know what needs to be done and need to get on with these things. I am not convinced that the COP platform is going to survive much longer. It has done as much as it can.
Sunak has said that he will reverse the decision of Truss to promote fracking, but it is still unlikely that he will beencouraging further development of wind and solar power. He has removed the climate change brief from Alok Sharma.
I do wish that Britain would be represented at COP27 by someone with a long-term perspective and the potential to influence both our political leaders and the public. At the moment there is a vacancy for that role – no political leader has the longevity (Alok Sharma had shown a growing commitment to the issues but has now been constrained) and the Nation’s Favourite, David Attenborough is 96 for goodness sake! So, personally I would move this to the remit of the Permanent Representatives to the UN and begin a process of negotiating a more powerful UN body to replace the toothless COP structure.