It was a pleasure to catch up with the Maldivian Foreign Minister and his colleagues earlier this week, ahead of COP27. As a small island developing state (SIDS), the people of the Maldives are bearing the brunt of a climate crisis that is not of their own making. Rising sea levels threaten the islands’ very existence.

We also discussed how the Maldives is well on its way to being fully reliant on renewable energy by 2030, food security, tourism and the future of our trade relationship. We even had an impromptu drop-in from Shadow Secretary for Climate Change, Ed Miliband!

Rishi Sunak has ended up being shamed into appearing at COP27, but his initial reluctance to attend suggests he’s not really interested. I hope he finds time to talk to some of the Commonwealth SIDS while he’s there.