Prime Minister Rishi Sunak should attend the COP27 climate conference - David Tonge

We can all agree that our new PM has a lot on his plate, and we wish him well with that. But, as opinion polls show consistently, the majority of people want their leaders to take more robust action on climate change. This is perhaps in response to those increasingly frequent reports of flooding, drought, wildfires and crop failures, no longer just in faraway lands but right here on our doorstep.

Public awareness of and concern about the soaring concentrations of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere that are destabilising our climate has been growing steadily for some time.

Even the perception – however right or wrong it may be – that our Government may not be taking the climate crisis seriously enough is worrying.

Perhaps it’s unfair to quote the Environment Secretary Therese Coffey’s unfortunate description of COP27 as “just a gathering of people in Egypt” or to focus on the relegation of COP26 president Alok Sharma from the Cabinet, but the message that these words and actions send out is not encouraging.

To be fair, we were heartened by Rishi Sunak’s decision to reimpose the moratorium on fracking. So far, so good. However, we are very concerned to hear that he may not attend the COP27 climate talks in Egypt. Many other world leaders will be there, all no doubt with their own pressing domestic issues.

A series of key UN reports published over the last few days tell us that current policies, including here in the UK, are nowhere near achieving the greenhouse gas reductions needed to keep us below the ‘relatively safe’ 1.5 degree global warming threshold.

Indeed, we are on track for a much more dangerous 2.5 degrees of warming. In the words of the UK Government’s own Net Zero Strategy, that would cause “severe and irreversible changes to the planet, the environment and human society”.

This cannot be the legacy we pass on to our children. Whatever other priorities we have, leaving the planet in a fit state for them must surely be at the top of the list.

So Prime Minister, please reconsider. We need you to be there, negotiating with the full weight of the UK Government and, for what it’s worth, the full backing of North Yorkshire climate groups up here in your own patch. Not only pushing for maximum ambition and speed in cutting emissions, but also helping to forge that green revolution, with its promise of a cleaner, more sustainable and more prosperous world.

North Yorkshire Climate Coalition is an informal alliance of climate and environmental groups from across the region, including the PM’s own constituency of Richmond. Our first joint campaign involved surveying all candidates in the county council elections earlier this year. The coalition’s main goal is to act as a non-party political platform for engaging with our elected representatives on North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) and with our region’s MPs on climate and environmental issues.

David Tonge is a member of Thirsk Friends of the Earth, one of around 20 local climate and environment groups in the region that have joined forces as North Yorkshire Climate Coalition. For a full list, see www.nyclimatecoalition.org.