NICOLA Sturgeon has cancelled a planned trip to New York during the United Nations general assembly.
The First Minister’s aides had been making plans for a visit to the US which would have coincided with climate week.
A source told The Times the decision not to travel to the week-long event, set to begin on Monday, had been made prior to the Queen’s death.
Sturgeon will be in attendance at the funeral in London on the opening day of the conference.
However, one key event which would have likely involved the First Minister will go ahead on the day of the funeral.
The Under2 coalition general assembly, of which Scotland is one of five co-chairs, will still take place.
Its programme states that it will hear “from our five co-chairs for 2022-2024 as well as governors, premiers and first ministers from across our global membership”.
It adds: “We look at what it means to ‘get it done’ as a state or regional government and how our networks can build reach and impact as we work towards a net-zero world.”
The Scottish Government has previously outlined a commitment to reaching “net-zero emissions” of all greenhouse gases by 2045 – five years earlier than the UK as a whole.
Some opposition politicians had been left fuming at the plans, with Tory MSP Sharon Dowey saying it would be “staggering” if the First Minister went on any more “overseas jaunts”.
In May, Sturgeon travelled to Washington where she made a speech to the Brookings Institute, urging countries to remain focused on delivering the promises made at the Cop26 UN climate conference held in Glasgow.
This year, Scotland recorded its hottest ever day with temperatures climbing higher than 35C.
It is understood the First Minister still plans to travel to Egypt for the Cop27 summit in Cairo, set to take place from November 7 to 18.
Writing in The Times before her trip to Washington, Sturgeon said that “promoting our country overseas should quite simply be seen as part of the job for whoever the government of the day happens to be”.
A Scottish government spokesman said of the New York plans: “No such visit had ever been confirmed.”
