A petition addressed to Buckingham Palace and Downing Street is demanding a reversal of the decision for King Charles to back out of his appearance at COP27 next month.
The agenda of the upcoming climate summit was due to feature a speech by the King – as it had during the 2021 edition when he spoke in his role as Prince of Wales, alongside the late Queen who appeared via videolink. But following consultations with Prime Minister Liz Truss, the King pulled out of his speaking commitment at the 2022 summit.
The petition – which has now amassed over 80,000 signatures – is the work of climate activist and Women’s Institute Climate Ambassador Jill Bruce. 60,000 of those who signed did so in the first 24 hours of the petition going live.
Keep the UK a key player on the world stage and improve all our chances of surviving climate change
Bruce comments: “Last year at COP26, both the then Prince Charles and … Queen Elizabeth II spoke at the conference. This sent a powerful message that is now being undermined.
“We are asking King Charles to represent the UK at COP27, helping keep the UK a key player on the world stage and improve all our chances of surviving climate change.”
Bruce hopes that widespread public pressure will ‘show decision makers how important it is for the British public to have their head of state in attendance’ at the climate summit, which takes place 7-18 November in Sharm El-Sheikh.
The petition can be found here.
