A White House official confirmed to The Hill that Biden won’t attend the summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, this year.
This is Biden’s second year skipping the conference after attending during the first two years of his presidency.
Last year, Vice President Harris went instead. This year, the administration will send White House officials John Podesta, Ali Zaidi and Brenda Mallory, as well as Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.
Biden is not the only world leader planning to sit out the summit this year. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping are also expected to skip the conference. China, the U.S. and India are the world’s three biggest emitters.
When Biden assumed office, he reentered the U.S. into the global Paris climate agreement, which Trump withdrew from. If he’s elected, Trump has said he’ll re-exit the Paris Agreement, which seeks to limit global warming.
Read more at TheHill.com.
