European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will not attend this year's United Nations climate change summit, known as COP29, a Commission spokesperson told Reuters on Tuesday.
Von der Leyen will skip the COP29 summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, because of political developments in Brussels. There, EU lawmakers are vetting the members of her new European Commission, who will lead EU policymaking for the next five years.
"The Commission is in a transition phase and the president will therefore focus on her institutional duties," the spokesperson said.
Some, but not all, world leaders attend U.N. climate summits. At past COP gatherings, they have used their speeches to announce new CO2-cutting policies and funding, or redouble their commitment to global efforts to curb climate change.
Von der Leyen is not the only leader skipping COP29.
U.S. President Joe Biden will not travel to the event, a Biden administration source told Reuters. COP29 begins on Nov. 11, a few days after the U.S. presidential election.
The U.S. election is looming over this year's U.N. climate talks, where nearly 200 countries will try to agree a huge increase in global funding to meet CO2-cutting goals.
Climate diplomats say a win by Republican candidate Donald Trump - who pulled the U.S. out of the Paris climate agreement during his first presidency - could make it harder for COP29 to yield a deal for a large increase in climate funding.
Li Shuo, a climate diplomacy expert at the Asia Society Policy Institute, said what countries bring to COP29 in terms of their actions to mobilise more finance would ultimately matter more than which heads of state showed up.
"What matters most is leadership. Leaders should always be at the COP. But more important than their presence is the real commitments countries bring to the table," he said.
China, Japan, Australia and Mexico are also absent from the U.N.'s latest agenda for leaders' speeches at COP29.
The EU will be represented at the summit by European Council President Charles Michel and the bloc's climate policy chief, Wopke Hoekstra.
COP29 overlaps with the Group of 20 summit in Brazil on Nov. 18-19, where leaders will also discuss efforts to finance the climate transition.
