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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden plans to skip annual climate talks in Dubai this week, an event expected to draw heads of state and diplomats from about 200 countries and the Vatican. He has participated in it twice before also.
The White House said it was sending a climate team, including special envoy John Kerry, climate adviser Ali Zaidi and clean energy adviser John Podesta.
White House spokesman Angelo Fernandez Hernandez said, “While we have no travel update to share for the president at this time, the administration looks forward to a strong and productive COP28.” He said Biden’s team will continue building the administration. Action “to tackle the climate crisis.”
Biden also promised to visit Africa Before the end of the year, but that trip doesn’t seem to be happening either. The White House did not give a reason, but the president has been deeply involved in the war in Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas conflict, as well as a domestic battle with Congress over government funding.
The two-week COP28 conference begins on Thursday and is organized annually by the United Nations. COP stands for “Conference of the Parties” – nations that agreed to a climate change framework drawn up by the United Nations in 1992. It has been held 28 times, so this year it is called “COP28”.
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Countries that have signed the agreement have promised to work to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions and stop “dangerous” human interference in the climate system. Their goal is to transition the world away from fossil fuels which are increasing the Earth’s temperature.
The United Arab Emirates, the world’s fifth-largest oil producer, is hosting the climate talks this year. Conflicts in Eastern Europe and the Middle East could make cooperation between nations even more difficult.
And Sultan Al-Jaber was appointed as president-designate, a decision roundly criticized by climate activists because he serves as the CEO of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, which plans to boost the production of carbon-emitting crude oil and natural gas. Is trying.
Biden has called climate change “the ultimate threat to humanity.”
Earlier this month, he released an assessment on the state of climate change in the US and said the issue is affecting all regions of the US, “not just some, but all”. He said, “Anyone who deliberately denies the impacts of climate change is condemning the American people to a very dangerous future.”
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