Sir Keir Starmer is scheduled to attend a prestigious global environmental award ceremony in Brazil next month, ahead of his participation in a significant climate summit.
The Labour leader is expected to join the Prince of Wales, founder of the 2025 Earthshot Prize, at the event in Rio de Janeiro. Following this, Sir Keir will proceed to Belem, in northern Brazil near the Amazon river's mouth, for the Cop30 global climate change conference.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman confirmed last week that Sir Keir would attend the major summit.
He said the move was part of efforts to restore the UK as “a global leader for climate action and green growth”, and that net zero was “the economic opportunity of the 21st century” and could “create good jobs for the future”.
Sir Keir attended last year’s Cop29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, but had been reported to be considering not travelling to Brazil for the leaders’ summit in early November this year.
The reports brought charges of “hypocrisy” from the Liberal Democrats, who pointed to Sir Keir’s criticism of Rishi Sunak over suggestions the then-prime minister would skip the 2022 summit.
Mr Sunak did eventually attend the summit in Egypt, and the following meeting in the United Arab Emirates.
The annual Cop (conference of the parties) summits bring together signatories to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to discuss efforts to halt climate change.
