Rishi Sunak is right to go to Egypt, but Cop27 must be more than an empty show

Editorial: The prime minister’s attendance at the climate talks is of more than merely symbolic importance

If Sunak can convince other world leaders that he is serious about working on the practical solutions to the climate emergency, his trip to Egypt may be even more valuable (Getty)

As we said when Rishi Sunak decided he had more important things to do than attend the climate summit in Egypt, our new prime minister is “a hard worker and a fast learner”.

He has worked hard on his homework for the autumn statement – so hard that he has created some space in his diary – and he has learned. He will now be going to Sharm el-Sheikh after all.

His original decision was a mistake. We can see how a new prime minister, acutely aware of the value of their time, might rashly conclude that it would be a poor use of that valuable resource to spend it flying to Egypt in order to be seen at the largely symbolic part of an international conference.

We can see how a leader of the Conservatives, under pressure from the net-zero-reluctant wing of his party, might choose to strike a populist pose, telling the British people that he is hard at work on their problems rather than at a jamboree in a fashionable seaside resort in the Middle East.

And because we are so even-handed and reasonable, we can even see a rationalist green argument for not burning kerosene at high altitude just to attend a homework-marking follow-up exercise, especially when the difficult negotiations of substance will happen before next year’s summit in the United Arab Emirates.

But Mr Sunak was right to change his mind. The key to effective action on climate change is something that might be called global public opinion, and so symbolism matters. The United Kingdom has been a leader in climate summitry since Margaret Thatcher was persuaded of its importance, and maintaining that leadership requires not just energetic diplomacy but a visible presence.

Last year’s climate summit in Glasgow fell short of securing the commitments that were needed, but it did serve to mobilise global public opinion and to raise awareness of the urgency of climate action. Some of that momentum would have been lost if the leader of the UK government had failed to turn up at the progress-chasing meeting.

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So Mr Sunak should be congratulated on doing the right thing, rather than condemned for his previous error, or indeed for performing a U-turn. The Independent is in favour of U-turns from the wrong position to the right one. Indeed, it might be that his hesitation could be played to the advantage of the great cause of our time, namely to persuade the peoples and polities of China and India that climate change can and must be minimised.

The bombast of the previous-prime-minister-but-one might have been entertaining; it might have attracted global attention; but it failed to do enough to advance the practical and self-interested arguments that will persuade the unpersuaded. Unless humanity can devise cheap and plentiful green energy, that cause is unlikely to advance.

If Mr Sunak, by advertising his reluctance to copy his predecessor’s showboating, can convince other world leaders that he is serious about working on the practical solutions to the climate emergency, his trip to Egypt may be even more valuable.