Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday is set to attend the COP28 global climate conference in the United Arab Emirates as she aims to tout American leadership on climate change at a key moment for the planet.
Harris’ attendance at the summit in Dubai is in line with her recent steps to ramp up public messaging on climate change. In recent months, the vice president has attended climate-related events, including talking to students and young voters on an issue central to them.
She will be the highest-ranking US official to attend the conference after President Joe Biden decided against attending for the first time during his tenure, having visited both the 2021 and 2022 editions of the conference. Despite the diminished stature of these gatherings in the eyes of some climate activists, the president received some criticism for deciding not to travel to Dubai for this year’s edition. US presidents do not typically attend every edition of the climate conference, often only attending during major years.
Harris is set to deliver a major address at the climate gathering and will also be focused on the Israel-Hamas war during conversations with world leaders, according to the White House.
Harris, the White House said, “will have an opportunity to meet with regional leaders and consult with them on latest developments in Gaza and, in particular, she will focus on day-after planning.”
The summit began this week with global delegates formally adopting a damage fund that was decades in the making. In what represented an early success, several countries pledged millions of dollars to help nations hit hardest by the climate crisis.
But the United States received criticism from international climate experts for contributing an “embarrassing” amount of money to the fund – less than a fifth of the contribution of the UAE, the host country,…
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