Sir Keir Starmer will attend the Cop30 climate summit next month despite reports previously suggesting he would skip the meeting in Brazil.
Downing Street confirmed on Monday that Sir Keir would attend the summit in Belem, near the mouth of the Amazon river.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said the move was part of efforts to restore the UK as “a global leader for climate action and green growth”.
He added that net zero was “the economic opportunity of the 21st century” and could “reignite our industrial heartlands” and “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 leader’s 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.
Labour MP Luke Murphy, who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Climate Change, said the decision showed the Prime Minister “leading from the front and putting the UK back where it belongs, at the forefront of climate leadership”.
Tessa Khan, executive director of campaign group Uplift, said it was “excellent news” that the Prime Minister would attend Cop30, and urged him and other world leaders to “inject hope and leadership back into the climate debate”.
She said: “There is still time to deliver transformative policies that will improve people’s lives, protect our economy from volatile fossil fuel markets, and secure a liveable planet.
“The UK Government can and must be at the forefront of this.”
