https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/11/climate/cop29-climate-talks-trump/index.html
Leaders snub another petrostate summit
The COP29 talks were already shaping up to be lackluster. It’s the third year in a row that they’ve been held in a petrostate. Mukhtar Babayev, a state-oil company veteran, will preside over the event.
More striking than the list of leaders making opening remarks is the list of those who won’t bother going at all: US President Joe Biden, France’s Emmanuel Macron, European Union chief Ursula Von Der Leyen and even Claudia Sheinbaum, the climate scientist-turned-president of Mexico.
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A number of leaders who were scheduled to go have since pulled out. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz canceled his appearance after his fragile three-way coalition government collapsed last week. Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof withdrew to deal with his own domestic crisis, as violent clashes erupted in Amsterdam around a football match contested by Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who will host the climate talks next year in Brazil, bowed out after a head injury. There will be few powerful leaders to send Trump any kind of warning shots on climate.
A surprise presence at the talks will be officials from the Taliban as observers, Reuters reports, marking a rare appearance by the group at a multilateral event since seizing control of Afghanistan in 2021, after the US’ chaotic withdrawal.
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CBS News: COP29 climate summit begins today in Baku. Will it be the last for the U.S.?
Who’s going to COP29?
This year, President Biden is sending a delegation that includes John Podesta, the senior presidential adviser for international climate policy, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Ali Zaidi, the White House national climate adviser. Vice President Kamala Harris represented the U.S. at last year’s conference.
The gathering in Baku will be smaller than some previous summits for several reasons, including fewer attendance passes and hotel spaces, and concerns over Azerbaijan’s human rights record and its oil-production-based economy.
A number of other world leaders have opted not to attend this year, including French President Emmanuel Macron, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. California Gov. Gavin Newsom isn’t going either, although California often has a strong presence at the conference.
Higher attendance is expected at next year’s COP30 in Brazil, whose president shown a greater commitment to tackling emissions and climate finance.
