Washington β The president of the United States, Joe Biden, will not attend the United Nations summit on climate change in Dubai, after two years of attending the event in order to highlight American leadership, an official source announced.
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Some 70,000 people, including leaders from several countries and Pope Francis, are expected to attend COP28 starting on Thursday, November 30, in what could be the largest United Nations climate summit to date.
Schedules released by the White House for Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris did not show trips by either to Dubai this week.
Biden’s commitments include a trip to Colorado to highlight investments in wind energy, a meeting with the president of Angola and the lighting of the Christmas tree.
A US official confirmed that Biden was not planning to attend COP28 this week or later in the summit, which ends on December 12.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Biden Administration was still discussing sending a high-level representative to the United Arab Emirates city.
A sensible drop for a summit full of expectations
John Kerry, United States climate envoy, former Secretary of State and senator, will direct the day-to-day negotiations for the North American country.
The official did not give any explanations about Biden’s decision, who has been focused for more than a month on the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, and who also seeks to address his internal agenda less than a year before the next presidential elections. .
President Biden will not attend the world leaders’ summit Friday and Saturday at COP28, the UN climate conference in Dubai, according to the official White House schedule released Sunday. Biden has attended the past two annual climate conferences. https://t.co/m1zQqF09Vb
βThe Washington Post (@washingtonpost) November 27, 2023
Until Biden did it, it was not common for a US president to attend UN climate meetings.
In 2021, Biden traveled to Glasgow to promise that the United States would again take a leadership role on this issue, after his predecessor Donald Trump withdrew from the Paris climate agreement.
Biden made a brief appearance again at COP27 last year, in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt.
Biden made climate a high priority domestically, with the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, which funnels billions of dollars into the green economy, such as incentives for electric cars.
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