London: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was "uninterested" in environmental issues, according to Zac Goldsmith, the country's former international environment minister, who resigned on Friday.

Goldsmith is on the other side of a significant divide in the ruling Conservative Party from Sunak because he is seen as an ally of former prime minister Boris Johnson.

The issue, according to Goldsmith, a member of parliament's upper house and former minister of state for overseas territories, the Commonwealth, energy, climate change, and the environment, is that you, our prime minister, are simply uninterested in the issue.

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Sunak's office did not respond right away.

Goldsmith's resignation letter, which was published on Twitter, stated that Britain had "visibly stepped off the world stage and withdrawn our leadership on climate and nature."

The government's climate advisers said in a report earlier this week that Britain had lost its position as a global leader in climate action and was not making enough progress towards achieving its mid-century net zero target.

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The Climate Change Committee report also highlighted recent decisions to support new British oil and gas production and commission a new coal mine.

Before Sunak took office, Britain received praise from other nations in 2021 for mediating a global climate agreement at the COP26 summit in Glasgow. Sunak initially declared he would not attend the COP summit after assuming office, but after receiving criticism, he changed his mind.

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Sunak has nonetheless created a new government division to oversee the nation's net zero plan and emphasised the significance of expansion in the green industries to Britain's economic future.

The government announced a new multi-million pound fund to create and restore habitats rich in wildlife on Friday, shortly after Goldmsith's resignation.
Since Johnson resigned from parliament earlier this month in protest over a report that found he had purposefully misled lawmakers about COVID-19 lockdown parties, some of his allies have become more critical of the government.

A parliamentary committee censured Goldsmith on Thursday after criticising the actions of some Johnson supporters who tried to intimidate the committee that had criticised his behaviour during lockdown.