President Biden will not attend this year’s United Nations climate summit in Dubai, according to reports citing an unnamed White House official.
It will mark Mr. Biden’s first absence from the annual event since taking office and sparked rebuke from irritated activists who say the president’s green energy agenda doesn’t go far enough to combat climate change.
“President Biden’s failure to attend COP28 is a clear signal of his lack of commitment to climate action,” Jean Su, energy justice director at the Center for Biological Diversity, told The Washington Times.
White House spokesman Angelo Fernandez Hernandez declined to confirm the news but said Special Climate Envoy John Kerry, National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi and Senior Adviser John Podesta will attend to “continue to build on the administration’s historic actions to tackle the climate crisis.”
“Since day one, President Biden has led and delivered on the most ambitious climate agenda in history, both at home and abroad,” Mr. Hernandez said in a statement to The Times.
The U.N. climate summit draws world leaders from hundreds of countries to discuss progress on lowering greenhouse gas emissions. But this year’s event is hosted by oil-rich United Arab Emirates, drawing scrutiny from environmentalists. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, CEO of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., is the president-designate of the summit.
“An oil chief is hosting these talks, so we really needed the president at the table pushing for the strongest action to phase out fossil fuels,” Ms. Su said. “President Biden’s absence on this crucial world stage shows he’s not taking that phaseout seriously at the time when we need it most.”
Despite Mr. Biden’s administrative policies and legislative achievements to transition the U.S. from fossil fuels to renewables, including the Inflation Reduction Act and proposed emissions rules to curtail the sales of new gas-powered cars, activists say his actions greenlighting major oil and gas projects on federal lands and waters belies his rhetoric.
“Biden has lost so much credibility that anything he says on climate won’t be taken seriously anyway,” said Kat Maier, national coordinator of Fridays for Future, the youth-led international climate group formed by activist Greta Thunberg. “It just goes to show that all of his climate action is just big, empty words and that he’s not the climate president that he says he’d like to be.”
Pressed by reporters about the president’s plans, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Mr. Biden will “continue to rally not just moral leaders, but obviously rally here as well and make sure that we put his climate ambition actions in the forefront.”
The two-week conference, called COP28 for Conference of the Parties’ 28th session, commences Thursday followed by a World Leaders Summit on Friday and Saturday when heads of state make speeches.
Mr. Biden’s expected absence will come amid several pressing issues for the administration, including hostage negotiations between Israel and Hamas, efforts to fund the federal government before deadlines in January and February, and congressional talks over a foreign aid package for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby declined to say Monday whether foreign policy issues influenced Mr. Biden’s apparent decision to skip COP28.
“The president has been very much focused on the conflict between Israel and Hamas over the last month or so,” Mr. Kirby told reporters at the White House. “He’s the commander in chief, which means he has global responsibilities, and the president is more than capable of handling them on any given day.”
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.
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