Alok Sharma, the government minister responsible for vital UN climate talks, has been accused of undermining environmental efforts and failing to set an example after reports that he has flown to 30 countries in the past seven months.

The president of Cop26, which is being hosted in Glasgow in October and November, has visited countries including Brazil, Indonesia and Kenya since February. Despite travelling to six countries on the government’s travel “red list” he was not required to isolate, according to the Daily Mail.

The Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, said his travel “undermines the effort” of others to cut their emissions.

“I’m afraid I do think it really undermines the effort that we know everybody has to make. We’ve all got used to having meetings with people in different parts of the world without needing to travel around the world to do it,” he told Sky News.

“And when we’re trying to persuade people to make the changes they need to make, we need to make, in our daily lives, transport, in our own homes, in the way that we think about the contribution we can make, we need the people at the very top to be demonstrating that they are doing that too, not thinking that that is for other people to carry that burden.”

David Lammy, the shadow justice secretary, said Sharma’s behaviour demonstrated that “it’s one rule for them and another rule for us” and “feels to not be setting the example”.

The Labour MP told the broadcaster: “Well, the optics are very clear – it’s one rule for them and another rule for us, whether it’s Dominic Cummings, whether it’s Matt Hancock, whether it’s Alok Sharma.

“Of course some international travel is required, but this amount of international travel when you’re climate change minister feels to me bizarre, and feels to not be setting the example.”

The Green party peer Jenny Jones, who has already accused the former business minister of being “excessive” and “hypocritical”, on Friday added that Sharma’s flights to France and Belgium “could hardly be faster than rail if you take into account the ability to work efficiently on the train”.

Most of Sharma’s trips were during the winter and spring months when international travel from the UK was mostly banned.

He visited India, Costa Rica, Qatar and UAE in March, while in April he travelled to South Korea and Japan before going to Bangladesh in June.

Not all of the 30 known trips were return flights to the UK, but travel to and from all the destinations would total 200,000 miles, or the equivalent to eight times around the Earth.

The delayed Cop26 conference will mark the first time since the 2015 Paris Climate Change conference that countries will set ambitious new targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

A government spokesperson said on Thursday: “Helping the world tackle the climate emergency is an international priority for the government. Virtual meetings play a large part; however, face-to-face meetings are key to success in the climate negotiations the UK is leading as hosts of Cop26 and are crucial to understanding first-hand the opportunities and challenges other countries are facing in the fight against climate change.”