King Charles could have attended Cop27 'had Sunak been appointed sooner'

Downing Street made the admission as new prime minister seeks to distance himself from his predecessor

Britain's King Charles III. Reuters

Britain's King Charles may have been able to attend the Cop27 climate change summit in Egypt if Rishi Sunak had been installed in Downing Street earlier, the Prime Minister's office said.

It was now not feasible for the king to join next week’s international gathering at Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheikh, a Downing Street spokeswoman said.

Mr Sunak took office only last week after the dramatic resignation of Liz Truss.

“We do recognise that had the prime minister been in post earlier, the situation might have been different but it is not logistically feasible at this late stage,” the spokeswoman said.

“There remains unanimous agreement between the palace and the government that the king will not attend.”

Sharm El Sheikh's preparations for Cop27 - in pictures

A billboard in Sharm El Sheikh ahead of the climate summit. All photos: Mahmoud Nasr / The National

Electric car chargers have been installed in petrol stations in Sharm El Sheikh to help the city go green.

Egypt's first electric bus charging station has started working ahead of Cop27.

Buses charge up at the station.

Solar panel power stations will provide energy for the city during Cop27.

Panel power in the sunlit desert.

The disclosure will be regarded as the latest attempt by Mr Sunak to distance himself from the short tenure of Ms Truss.

It was widely reported that the king, who takes a passionate interest in environmental affairs and who addressed last year’s Cop26 summit in Glasgow, had hoped to attend in person.

But it is understood that after seeking the advice of Ms Truss, as is customary with royal visits overseas, it was agreed that he would not go.

Access limited for Cop27 climate activists — in pictures

The Cop27 summit in Sharm El Sheikh is the first annual UN climate conference to be held after the easing of Covid-19 restrictions. Campaigners see it as a crucial venue for raising the alarm over climate change and putting pressure on governments to act. All photos: Reuters

But they say voicing their concerns through rallies and protests as they have done in past host countries or cities will be more challenging in Egypt, where public demonstrations are effectively banned and activists have struggled to operate legally.

Limits on accreditation and attendance badges for activists, especially from poorer nations, have also been a point of contention at previous UN climate summits.

Egypt, which has only one NGO permanently accredited to attend the annual summits, says the inclusion of civil society is a priority, and it has helped to add more NGOs, including 35 Egyptian groups, through a single-year admission valid only for Cop27.

That was a positive step but the process was not publicly announced and did not give some groups a fair chance to apply, said Hossam Bahgat, head of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights and one of Egypt's best known campaigners.

A representative of Egypt's Cop presidency said there had been a 'fully transparent' selection process approved by the UN after consultation with regional organisations and national negotiating teams. Egyptian groups were recommended based on their environment and climate change expertise, the representative said. A UN climate change spokesman said there had been about 10,000 registrations from close to 2,000 admitted observer organisations for Cop27, which was similar to Cop26 in Glasgow.

Another concern among activists is the difficulty ordinary citizens may face in visiting Sharm El Sheikh. The city, situated at the southern tip of Egypt's Sinai peninsula, is bordered by the sea on one side and a concrete and wire barrier in the desert on the other.

Some of those hoping to travel from outside Egypt have been put off by hotel prices that ran into hundreds of dollars a night earlier in the year. After lobbying from civil society, the government negotiated a $120 price cap for two-star hotels and announced cheaper accommodation in recent weeks. That included rooms for 400 young people at about $30 to $40 a night, and was designed to help African groups overcome long-standing obstacles to having access to Cop summits, said Omnia El-Omrani, Cop27's youth envoy.

Mr Sunak only announced on Wednesday that he would be travelling to Egypt, having previously said that he was staying in London to focus on the autumn statement with Chancellor Jeremy Hunt.

The change of heart followed intense criticism from environmentalists and from within the Conservative Party, including from Cop26 President Alok Sharma.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's U-turn on attending Cop27 in Egypt - video