Why have so many world leaders dropped out of COP29 climate talks?

Next week world leaders, negotiators, lobbyists and NGOs are due to meet in the Azeri capital Baku for COP29. 

The UN climate conference has been billed as the “finance COP” as countries are due to set a new global climate finance goal this year. Ahead of COP30 in Brazil next year, they are also expected to submit strong national climate commitments – also known as Nationally Determined Contributions or NDCs. 

More than 100 heads of state and government have confirmed their attendance, according to UN sources. 

A number of world leaders and government officials, however, have already said they won’t be travelling to Baku. Here we explain who’s sitting it out and why.

Which EU leaders are not attending COP29?

Over the last few weeks, a raft of different European leaders have announced that they won’t be attending COP29. 

A spokesperson confirmed to Euronews earlier this week that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen won’t be in attendance. They said that, as the Commission is in a transition phase, “the President will therefore focus on her institutional duties”. Von der Leyen is currently preparing for her second term in office which is due to begin on 1 December. 

The EU will instead be represented by European Council President Charles Michel, climate policy chief Wopke Hoekstra and energy commissioner Kadri Simson.

French President Emmanuel Macron is also due to miss the climate summit, reportedly due to it being held in Azerbaijan Relations between the two countries have been strained since last year when Paris condemned Azerbaijan’s military offensive against Armenian separatists in the breakaway Karabakh region.

The leader of another European superpower will not be in attendance, either. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has announced that he won’t travel to COP29 after the breakdown of his ruling coalition on Wednesday. He had been planning to attend the climate talks in Baku from Monday to Tuesday but has reversed that decision after the collapse of Germany’s three-party coalition government.

Brazil, UK, Russia: Which other world leaders won’t be in Baku?

With COP29 taking place just a few days after the US election, President Joe Biden will not be attending. It is the second year in a row that he has skipped the global climate talks. The US delegation will be led by John Podesta, current senior advisor to the president for international climate policy. 

Following a head injury last month, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva also cancelled his trip to Baku. The country is due to host COP30 in Belem next year. 

King Charles won’t attend the summit either with the UK government deciding not to elect him as a representative as he continues his recovery from cancer. The royal has a long history of climate change advocacy and has attended past UN conferences. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin is not going to the UN climate conference and the country’s delegation at COP29 will instead be led by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. In October, Ukraine’s EU ambassador, Vsevolod Chentsov told Politico that the international community should shun the talks if he did attend. 

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, China’s President Xi Jinping, South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa and Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also appear to be skipping the climate conference this year. 

‘A total waste of time’: Papua New Guinea pulls out of COP29

In August, Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape announced that the country would not attend COP29 as a protest against big nations for a lack of “quick support to victims of climate change”. The country has said it is making this stand for the benefit of all small island nations. 

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Surrounded by oceans and home to the third largest expanse of rainforest on the planet,

Papua New Guinea is extremely vulnerable to the effects of climate change. It is being ravaged by impacts like rising sea levels and natural disasters. 

With just a few weeks to go, foreign affairs minister Justin Tckatchenko confirmed that the country would be withdrawing from high-level talks at the climate summit. He described it as a “total waste of time”.

He said that Papua New Guinea will “no longer tolerate empty promises and inaction” while its people suffer the devastating consequences of climate change. Tckatchenko added that the last three COP meetings have “gone around in circles, producing no tangible results for small island states”.  

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Papua New Guinea will send a small delegation of government officials but no ministers will attend to take part in high-level talks. 

COP29: A smaller climate conference overall

The number of people attending UN climate conferences over the last few years has seemed to grow exponentially. 

Last year a total of 83,884 people were at the summit in Dubai. The Expo City site was so huge that delegates had to be ferried around on golf buggies. It has attracted claims of hypocrisy as tens of thousands of people fly from all over the world to the talks. 

After last year’s record high, UN climate chief Simon Stiell said earlier this year that he hoped to see fewer people in Baku. He told an audience at London’s Chatham House think tank that “size does not necessarily translate to the quality of outcomes”. 

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This year, the UNFCCC has agreed to limit attendance to around 40,000 people – roughly the same number as went to COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland.