BRUSSELS – European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will not attend this year’s United Nations climate change summit, known as COP29, a Commission spokesperson told Reuters on Tuesday.
Von der Leyen will skip the climate talks due to political developments in Brussels, where EU lawmakers are reviewing the members of her new European Commission, which will eventually shape EU policymaking for the next five years.
“The Commission is in a transition phase, and the president will therefore focus on her institutional duties,” the spokesperson said.
The new EU Commission is not expected to be in place before December, while the COP29 summit will take place from Nov. 11-22 in Baku, Azerbaijan.
European Council President Charles Michel will attend the summit, a spokesperson for Michel confirmed. He and von der Leyen had both been scheduled to speak at COP29 alongside other world leaders, according to a U.N. agenda.
World leaders typically attend the opening of U.N. climate summits, where many use their slots to announce new CO2-cutting policies and funding commitments aimed at combating climate change.
During the two-week summit, countries are represented by teams of government negotiators, whose primary task is to broker agreements on stronger actions to prevent severe global temperature increases.
The EU will be represented during the COP29 negotiations by Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra and the bloc’s team of climate negotiators.
