The prime minister may have little impact in Sharm el-Sheikh, but skipping it would do political damage much closer to home
So the gentleman is for turning. Well, maybe, anyway: after an outcry, Rishi Sunak may now attend the Cop27 climate summit in Sharm el-Sheikh after all. It would be easy to be churlish about this, given it follows reports that Boris Johnson was planning to go and hog the limelight instead, while doubtless giving the impression of caring so very much more deeply about the planet than his successor (imagine being out-serioused by Johnson, who made Kermit the Frog jokes during a rambling keynote address last year to the UN on the climate emergency, and a U-turn becomes easier to understand). But in this freakishly balmy autumn, amid apocalyptic warnings about just how far the world is from containing the global temperature rise to 1.5C, I’m mostly grateful for small mercies. Although even more so for big ones.
Last weekend’s presidential elections in Brazil were described as one of the most consequential sets of elections in the world for the climate. The ejection of another toxic populist – Jair Bolsonaro goes the way of Donald Trump and Australia’s culture warrior Scott Morrison, hopefully quietly – and the return of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva despite a corruption scandal some thought had finished him does at least bring some hope for the survival of the Amazon rainforest.
Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist
