Rishi Sunak has announced he will attend the Cop27 climate summit in Egypt, having initially said he would skip it to focus on “depressing domestic challenges”.
The U-turn came after Boris Johnson said he would travel to the meeting next week after being invited by the organisers.
Sunak said on Wednesday morning there was “no long-term prosperity without action on climate change”.
Sunak had been widely criticised by opposition parties and climate campaigners for his initial decision not to attend Cop27.
The prime minister had said it was more important that he remain in the UK to focus on the autumn budget, due on November 17.
“At the moment, it’s right that I’m also focusing on the depressing domestic challenges we have with the economy,” he said last week.
But he has now changed his mind.
In an interview with Sky News on Monday, Johnson said he had a “particular interest” in attending.
Cop26, the previous climate summit, was held in Glasgow when Johnson was prime minister.
Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, said Sunak had been “dragged kicking and screaming into doing the right thing” and was “embarrassing”.
Wera Hobhouse, the Lib Dem climate change spokesperson, said: “This whole debacle has shown the environment is simply not a priority for Rishi Sunak.
“He’s only going after being embarrassed by Boris Johnson’s attendance.”
Other world leaders including US President Joe Biden are due to attend the upcoming meeting.
But Downing Street admitted last week that it had advised King Charles not to attend.