UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday stressed at the UN climate summit COP27 that the war in Ukraine is a reason to act faster to tackle climate change. In his first international appearance since he took charge at 10 Downing Street, the new PM said, "Putin's abhorrent war in Ukraine and rising energy prices across the world are not a reason to go slow on climate change. They are a reason to act faster." "We can bequeath our children a greener planet and a more prosperous future [...] There really is room for hope," said Sunak, according to the news agency PTI.
The PM, who committed 11.6 billion pounds as the UK’s commitment to the climate fund also noted that climate and energy security go hand-in-hand.
Sunak pointed at the green energy investment saying it was a "fantastic source of new jobs and growth" and affirmed his action on building the room for hope created during the UK's presidency of COP26 in Scotland last November.
In his speech, Sunak also paid tribute to COP26 President, Indian-origin former minister Alok Sharma, "for his inspiring work" to deliver on the Glasgow climate pact of last year.
"Instead of developing countries being unfairly burdened with the carbon debt of richer nations and somehow expected to forgo that same path to growth, we are helping those countries deliver their own fast track to clean growth," he said.
Sunak referenced a speech by the late Queen Elizabeth II at the COP26 summit last year, where she said there was "hope" for the climate if countries come together.
"She reflected how history has shown when nations come together in a common cause, there is always room for hope. I believe we found room for hope in Glasgow with one last chance to create a plan that would limit global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees, we made the promises to keep that goal within reach. And the question today is this can we summon the collective will to deliver them? I believe we can," he said.
The UK Prime Minister reflected on the fact 90 per cent of countries are now signed up to net zero targets even as he admitted the pandemic "all but broke" the global economy.
Leaders from 120 countries are meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt to discuss next steps in curbing climate change. The discussions are focused on compensation and support for the most-affected countries. Global leaders urged rich countries to stay the course in stopping further climate change, despite the war in Ukraine and global financial problems.