Biden’s top climate advisor to lead large US delegation at COP29 in Baku

From November 11-22, 2024, senior Biden-Harris Administration officials from more than 20 U.S. Departments, Agencies, and organizations will travel to Baku, Azerbaijan.

The U.S. delegation aims to highlight the country’s leadership on tackling the climate crisis and to work towards strong negotiated outcomes at the 2024 UN Climate Change Conference (COP 29), the State Department said in a message , News.Az reports.

The US delegation will be led by Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy John Podesta.

Other senior officials in the US delegation include:

- Thomas Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture
- Jennifer M. Granholm, Secretary of Energy
- Ali Zaidi, Assistant to the President and White House National Climate Advisor
- Brenda Mallory, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality
- David Turk, Deputy Secretary of Energy
- Laura Daniel-Davis, Acting Deputy Secretary of the Interior
- Jane Nishida, Acting Deputy Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
- Rick Spinrad, Ph.D, Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere & - --Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- Bonnie Jenkins, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security

In addition to those listed above, the US delegation will include a wide range of other US government officials working on how climate change relates to armed conflict, finance, food security, gender, global health, trade and investment, youth issues, and more.

The 29th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP29) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is set to take place in Azerbaijan from November 11 to 22. This decision was reached during the COP28 plenary session held in Dubai on December 11, 2023.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which was established during the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992, aims to mitigate harmful human impacts on the climate system. The acronym COP stands for "Conference of the Parties," which denotes the highest decision-making body responsible for overseeing the implementation and effectiveness of the UNFCCC.

This upcoming conference presents a crucial opportunity for young voices to contribute to the global climate dialogue, emphasizing the importance of youth engagement in shaping the future of environmental policies and actions.

News.Az