United States President Joe Biden is not expected to attend COP28, a UN event focused on climate change and sustainability, news agency France Press reported, citing an anonymous source within the government.
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The official interviewed did not give a reason for Biden’s absence, however, John Kerry, special envoy for climate, said last week that the country has several issues to worry about.
“They (Joe Biden and his vice president Kamala Harris) have the war in the Middle East and a war in Ukraine, a lot of things going on,” Kerry said.
It is worth remembering that Biden was present at the last two editions of the event, in Glasgow (Iceland) and Sharm el Sheikh (Egypt). Before him, it was not usual for the President of the United States to participate in UN climate meetings.
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With this, COP28 will aim to reach agreements that prevent the world from warming 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial temperatures. The goal is a threshold to avoid extreme and devastating climates for millions of people around the world.
UN Secretary General António Guterres said he hopes the Pope’s participation will convince political leaders that “it is a moral imperative” to make climate action “an absolute priority” to “get off the suicidal trajectory we are following today as planet,” he said.
In addition to Joe Biden, other leaders of very polluting countries such as Vladimir Putin (Russia), Xi Jinping (China) and Ebrahim Raisi (Iran) did not confirm their personal attendance at the event.