President Biden will not attend an annual international climate summit this year, which is being held in Azerbaijan less than one week after the U.S. presidential elections, the White House confirmed on Friday.
This is the second year in a row in which Mr. Biden will have skipped global climate negotiations. Last year, Vice President Kamala Harris attended the talks in place of the president.
The meeting, known as COP29, runs Nov. 11 to 22 in Baku, the Azerbaijani capital. Nations are hoping that the two-week summit will deliver a finance plan to help poor countries transition away from fossil fuels and prepare for the effects of global warming. It also is expected to set the stage for countries to set more ambitious targets for reducing their greenhouse gas pollution.
But this year is not viewed as a major inflection point in the global negotiations, and a number of world leaders are said to be skipping the talks. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil canceled a plan to attend the summit after a head injury. Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India and President Xi Jinping of China also are not expected to attend.
Mr. Biden attended the U.N. climate summits in 2021 and 2022, sending a message after the Trump administration that the United States would play a leading role in global negotiations.
The United States delegation will be led by John Podesta, the senior presidential adviser for international climate policy. Other top Biden administration officials set to attend include Jennifer Granholm, secretary of the Department of Energy; Tom Vilsack, the secretary of the Department of Agriculture; and Ali Zaidi, the White House climate adviser, according to a State Department list.
Mr. Biden’s plan not to attend was earlier reported by Bloomberg.
Former President Donald J. Trump, if voters return him to the White House, has promised to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement, as he did during his first term. President Biden restored American participation in the accord, in which nearly 200 nations agreed to voluntarily cut emissions in order to avoid the worst effects of global warming.
Ms. Harris, now the Democratic nominee for president, is widely expected to continue many of the Biden administration’s climate policies if she wins the presidency. If she does, the administration will face increased pressure to deliver more money for poor countries.
Ms. Harris’s office did not immediately respond when asked whether she would attend the summit.
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