Biden and Xi ‘sit out’ COP28, but Europe doubles down

THE high-profile COP28 climate summit opens on Thursday (Nov 30) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, without key leaders such as US and Chinese presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping in attendance.

One of the other world powers that will fill this vacuum is the European Union (EU) which sees the event as critical for delivering the goals of the 2015 Paris deal. The influence of Europe, plus China and the United States, in global climate talks is illustrated by the fact that they, in combination, account for around half of greenhouse gas emissions.

While Xi and Biden will sit out COP28, for different reasons, multiple EU leaders will be at the big event, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel. This reflects the fact that the EU has a huge stake in the summit.