UK absent from key international statement on climate action

Rishi Sunak accused of disgusting betrayal of vulnerable people' over net zero U-turn as he misses UN climate ambition summit

The UK was notable by its absence on Wednesday from a key statement pledging ambitious action on the climate crisis, from a group of countries of which it is normally a leading member.

The high ambition coalition" of countries, which aims to push the world to swifter cuts on greenhouse gas emissions, issued a call for faster stronger" action on the climate, to cause emissions to peak by 2025, and a plan to put the world on course to meet the goals of the 2015 Paris agreement.