The King is planning to head to the Middle East to make a major speech on the climate crisis — a year after he was blocked by No 10 from attending the COP27 summit in Egypt.
Close sources say Rishi Sunak has provisionally sanctioned the monarch’s trip to address other world leaders on the climate emergency at COP28 in Dubai at the end of next month. It comes after then prime minister Liz Truss effectively told the King to abandon his plans to attend COP27, just after his accession. Following Ms Truss’s resignation after just 49 days, her replacement attended the summit in Egypt in November after initially deciding to stay at home.
A senior source told the Standard: “It is the King’s intention to attend and speak at COP28. Obviously, the wider region is deteriorating dangerously and is extremely volatile, so plans can change.”
His attendance at the summit — which says its purpose is to “rethink, reboot, and refocus the climate agenda” — comes after he was widely praised for his “state of the nation” speech at the Mansion House this week. The King only discovered he wasn’t allowed to attend last year’s summit at the last minute when No 10 said it felt it was not the “right occasion” for him to go there and it was “unanimously agreed”.
Palace officials tried to play down any suggestion of a conflict, saying the move was made on the Government’s advice and was “entirely in the spirit of being ever mindful as King that he acts on Government advice”. It is understood that the way it was handled irked the King.
He had been invited to the 27th UN climate change conference and it later emerged he was even listed to make the second speech on the first day. Ahead of the conference, the King instead hosted a reception for business figures at Buckingham Palace with more than 200 guests, including the then new prime minister Mr Sunak. The King remains firmly committed to a global sustainability revolution to make world leaders think more deeply about how we are treating nature and our planet. When he met President Biden in Windsor the two men discussed the climate crisis and how to tackle the emergency.
Perhaps more than anyone, Charles has led the charge in altering how people think and increasing recognition that, as he would say, “right action cannot happen without right thinking.” His attendance in Dubai alongside world leaders will be a clear sign that he wants to use his position to benefit society, particularly on sustainability.
In January he gave up a £1billion-a-year windfall from green energy and asked the Government to change the way the monarchy is funded. He wanted to ensure revenue from six offshore wind farms, estimated to bring the Crown Estate an extra £250 million annually, is used for the “wider public good” instead.
