TOO BUSY

Biden Is Skipping U.N. Climate Conference COP28 in Dubai

Aides suggested the president is too busy with the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine.

President Joe Biden has decided to skip this year’s U.N. climate conference, which begins Thursday in Dubai. Biden has led the U.S. delegation to the last two versions of the annual talking shop—and has called climate change “the ultimate threat to humanity”—but will not be going to this year's, known as COP28, The New York Times reported. A White House spokesman did not give a reason for Biden’s decision, but senior aides suggested he had enough on his plate with the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine. The Dubai conference is due to be attended by world leaders from nearly 200 countries and by prominent figures including Pope Francis and King Charles III. Biden might have made the right decision politically, however, after a report Monday that conference host Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber had been planning to use COP28 meetings to strike deals for the UAE state oil company.