Biden to Skip UN Meeting as Climate Change Moves to ‘Back Burner’
The US president’s decision to skip informal talks in New York comes as global turmoil threatens to overshadow climate disasters at this week’s United Nations meeting
Joe Biden
Photographer: Ron Sachs/CNP/Bloomberg
President Joe Biden is set to miss a United Nations roundtable on climate action Wednesday afternoon in New York, stoking concern that other G-7 leaders will also forgo the session meant to help pave the way for international global warming negotiations later this year.
The expected absence of Biden served to underscore a warning that came Tuesday in the speech that opened the meeting of the United Nations General Assembly. “The climate crisis is the defining issue of our time. It must be the first priority of every government and multilateral organization,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres. “And yet climate action is being put on the back burner — despite overwhelming public support around the world.”