​Rishi Sunak plans to encourage world leaders to move quicker and further in the bid to transition to renewables at the COP27 summit.

The prime minister is travelling to Egypt this weekend for the summit after a U-turn on his plans not to attend. He will address delegates to say that Russia's war on Ukraine has reinforced the necessity of phasing out fossil fuels.

COP27 is being held amidst a background of the energy crisis, record temperatures last summer and a series of climate-triggered natural disasters worldwide, including flooding.

Mr Sunak will speak to leaders to say they must not step back from the commitments made last year at Glasgow's COP26 summit. The main goal of the summit is to ensure that individual nations commit to clear actions to limit global temperature rises to less than 1.5C above levels seen pre-industrialisation.

Mr Sunak will say that tackling climate change isn't just a moral imperative but a fundamental transition for future energy security and prosperity. He will point to Russia's manipulation of gas and energy prices as a key example of why the world must cease its dependence on coal and oil.

He will also reinforce the UK's commitment to remaining at the forefront of the clean energy transition. Ministers have also spoken to the BBC to reinforce the fact that it is now cheaper to save the planet than to continue damaging it with fossil fuels.

The IEA has already said that fossil fuel exploration must immediately cease if the target of 1.5C max temp rises are to be achieved. However, despite its talk of climate change commitment,. the British government has come under considerable criticism for saying that it plans to continue exploiting the North Sea for fossil fuel reserves.