A US official said on Sunday that US President Joe Biden will not attend a meeting of world leaders focused on climate change in Dubai this week.
Reuters reported last month that Biden is unlikely to attend the Conference of States Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, known as COP28, which begins on Thursday, as he balances the demands of a war in the Middle East with a presidential campaign that is expected to intensify next January.
According to the president’s agenda for Thursday released by the White House, he will hold a meeting with João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço, President of the Republic of Angola, and will attend the lighting of the national tree.
Dozens of countries plan to push for the world’s first agreement to phase out coal, oil and gas, which cause carbon dioxide emissions, at the Dubai summit. Biden has attended two COP summits since his inauguration in 2021.
