Biden sends Harris to Dubai for UN climate summit

Vice President Kamala Harris is set to represent President Joe Biden at this year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference.

Reports of Harris attending the 28th annual U.N. climate summit, known as COP28 because of the “conference of the parties” to the 1992 U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, coincide with speculation Biden will skip the event for the first time of his administration as his economic and green policies are criticized at home.

BIDEN SKIPS CLIMATE CONFERENCE AS HIS GREEN AGENDA IS CRITICIZED AT HOME

The White House has neither confirmed nor denied Biden’s participation in COP28, but he is scheduled to deliver a climate address in Colorado on Wednesday. COP28 starts Thursday in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, the same day he is expected back in Washington, D.C., to meet with Angolan President Joao Manuel Goncalves Lourenco and take part in the National Christmas Tree Lighting.

“If we think about the Inflation Reduction Act, that’s one of the things the president is going to talk about when he’s in Pueblo, Colorado, and how the Inflation Reduction Act is lowering costs,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Tuesday. “As a historic piece of legislation, it is … legislation that is doing the most to fight climate change — right? — to fight this climate crisis.”

“We’re taking it seriously,” she said. “We have been since day one of this administration. I think I mentioned yesterday that, and I’m not going to go further into COP28. I don’t have anything to share about the attendance of the president.”

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Harris will be accompanied by special envoy John Kerry, national climate adviser Ali Zaidi, and senior adviser John Podesta in Dubai. Earlier this month, Harris also represented Biden at British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak‘s Global Artificial Intelligence Safety Summit in the United Kingdom.

The climate change travel adds to Harris’s expanding portfolio, which also includes solving the root causes of the border crisis, abortion access, gun violence, voting rights, and Latino outreach.