Overview

• Downing Street has not announced a decision on the prime minister’s attendance, with some aides urging him to skip COP30 over likely Reform party attacks, the Financial Times reported.
• UN climate chief Simon Stiell and former UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon say leaders’ presence is essential to secure stronger national commitments and adaptation finance.
• Campaign groups and UK politicians warn that staying away would damage the UK’s climate leadership, with Green party leader Zack Polanski calling non-attendance a “huge abdication of responsibility.”
• The UK is touted as having a comparatively strong plan, including Starmer’s 81% emissions-cut target by 2035 highlighted by former chief scientific adviser Sir David King.
• The stakes are heightened as US President Donald Trump plans to snub the summit after dismissing the climate crisis as a “con job,” while COP30’s Amazon setting focuses attention on deforestation and resilience.