Leading climate figures and Labour MPs have urged Keir Starmer to attend the crucial Cop30 climate summit this November, after aides advised him not to attend for fear of attracting the ire of the Reform party.
Simon Stiell, the UN’s climate chief, said: “Cop30 is where leaders are expected to come and roll up their sleeves, make deals to help their nation’s economy transition faster, creating more jobs, and guide the world on what next steps we take together.”
Ban Ki-moon said: “World leaders must be in Belem for Cop30.” The former UN secretary general said: “Attendance is not a courtesy – it is a test of leadership. This is the moment to lock in stronger national commitments, and the finance to deliver them, especially for adaptation [to the effects of the climate crisis]. The world is watching – and history will remember who showed up.”
Other prominent figures have also privately urged Starmer – who attended last year’s Cop29 in Azerbaijan, and as leader of the opposition spent longer at Cop28 in Dubai in 2023 than then prime minister Rishi Sunak – to attend the summit in Brazil, where countries will unveil their plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade.
Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland and twice a UN climate envoy, said: “Cop30 in Belém this year promises to be one of the most significant climate summits in recent years. It is vital that heads of state and government attend in person to signify their commitment to climate action. Leadership must come from the top.”
The UK is widely regarded as having a strong story to tell on global climate leadership, having submitted a national plan on greenhouse gas emissions cuts judged to be stronger than most other countries’ efforts.
Sir David King, the former chief scientific adviser to the government, said: “The attendance of world leaders on the first day of Cop30 is vital to set the trend of the meeting. A very good example is the commitment of the UK to reduce emissions by 81% by 2035, made by Starmer at the last Cop. This needs to be reiterated by the prime minister in Brazil, to persuade other countries to make similar major commitments.”
A final decision has not yet been taken on the prime minister’s attendance at Cop30, which will begin with a leaders’ summit in Belem, on the mouth of the Amazon, led by Brazil’s president, Lula da Silva.
Opinion polls also show strong backing across the UK for climate action, with about two thirds of people surveyed in favour. But according to a report in the Financial Times, some of Starmer’s aides are fearful that Reform, whose leaders deny climate science and want to scrap the net zero target, will attack the prime minister for attending.
It is also not known whether King Charles will attend. Sunak attracted fierce criticism for preventing Charles from attending Cop28, against his wishes, but it would be difficult in protocol terms for the monarch to attend if the prime minister fails to.
Donald Trump, the US president, will snub the summit, having dismissed the climate crisis as a “con job” in a rambling speech to the UN earlier this week.
Leaders from the EU, the G7 and G20 groups, and heads of state and government from scores of vulnerable countries are expected to attend the meeting, where an estimated 50,000 people will gather, and whose decisions will determine whether the world limits temperatures to 1.5C above preindustrial levels.
Many of Starmer’s own MPs are concerned the prime minister would consider not going. Polly Billington, who fought off Reform to win East Thanet for Labour, and who attended Cops when she was an adviser to Ed Miliband under Gordon Brown’s premiership, said: “As someone who has been to Cops several times, I know the difference that leaders make when they attend. It focuses the minds of the negotiators on getting the best possible deal – and that is required, when we see the fragility of the consensus on acting on climate change. It is more important than ever that world leaders who understand the disastrous economic impacts of the climate crisis, and the economic opportunities of tackling it, should be there, for the world to come together.”
Alex Sobel, a Labour MP who also attended Cops as a shadow minister, said: “World leaders should attend Cop30. Brazil had the highest deforestation rate under its last president, and the return of Lula shows that political leadership can make a difference, with Amazon deforestation reaching a nine-year low. After two Cops in fossil fuel producing countries, we need to show support for the UN process, and what can be achieved with the right political leadership.”
Zack Polanski, the leader of the Green party, said not to go would show Starmer’s lack of commitment to tackling the climate crisis.
“This would be a huge abdication of responsibility,” he said. “If you accept there is a climate emergency, you need to act as such. And the first thing you need to do is build an international consensus on the response. The very least the prime minister could and should do is turn up. Instead, Starmer’s missing in action at this time of crisis and frankly that speaks volumes.”
