U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will attend the COP28 climate summit in Dubai on behalf of President Joe Biden, the White House said on Wednesday.
The 28th meeting of the United Nations "Conference of the Parties" on climate, known as COP28, runs from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12 in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, a major oil producer. Harris will be in Dubai on Dec. 1 and Dec. 2, the White House said in a statement.
Reuters reported earlier this week that Biden would not attend the gathering. Beyond the climate agenda, a White House official said Harris will likely engage with leaders at the summit on the conflict between Israel and Hamas militants as well.
The U.S. delegation for the summit will also include Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry and dozens of senior U.S. officials representing more than 20 departments and agencies, according to the White House.
Kerry said on Wednesday the United States will work with China to make the United Nations climate negotiations that begin in the UAE this week a success. Cooperation between the U.S. and China, the world's two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, is seen as crucial to securing consensus at the summit.
The talks in the UAE, a major oil producer, are a critical opportunity for governments to accelerate action on climate change. However, they remain split over the use of fossil fuels, the burning of which is the main cause of climate change.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak are among the leaders expected to attend the event that begins on Thursday.
The United States supports creating a new fund to help poor countries deal with climate-caused damage but wants the deal to make clear no country will be obliged to pay into it. It also supports a COP28 deal calling to phase out CO2-emitting fossil fuel use.
