LONDON: King Charles III will not travel to next month’s United Nations climate summit in Egypt, Buckingham Palace confirmed on Sunday, after UK Prime Minister Liz Truss reportedly “objected” to the keen environmentalist attending.
Britain’s new monarch, who took the throne when his mother Queen Elizabeth II died last month, had intended to deliver a speech to world leaders gathering at the COP27 summit on November 6-18, the Sunday Times reported.
But the plan has been axed after Truss — who was appointed prime minister by the late queen just two days before the latter died — opposed it during a personal audience with Charles at the palace last month, the newspaper said.
Queen Elizabeth addressed the last UN climate summit in November 2021, with the blessing of the Tory government led by Truss’s predecessor Boris Johnson.
Charles III’s office appeared to distance itself from the incendiary newspaper report, insisting the king had sought Truss’s advice.
“With mutual friendship and respect there was agreement that the king would not attend,” it told the BBC.
The Sunday Times story comes amid speculation Britain’s new leader — already under fire over her economic plans which have sparked market turmoil — could controversially scale back the country’s legally binding climate commitments.
Her newly assembled cabinet contains a number of ministers who have expressed scepticism about the so-called 2050 net zero goals, while Truss herself is seen as less enthusiastic about the policy than predecessor Johnson.
The newspaper said she is unlikely to attend COP27 — the 27th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change — in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Britain hosted the last summit, COP26, in the Scottish city Glasgow. In addition to the late queen, Charles and his son William both addressed the event.
