UAE will not host next year’s COP29 climate talks, official says
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Dubai is hosting COP28 in November 2023.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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LONDON – The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will not double up on hosting the United Nations’ annual climate conference by holding the 2024 summit, according to leadership involved in the event.
The 2024 COP29 climate summit is supposed to be held in Eastern Europe, but Russian opposition to holding the event in a European Union country has left the event without a home – and spurred media reports that the UAE might step in after hosting COP28 in Dubai in November.
“The UAE has not been asked and has no intention of hosting COP29,” COP28 summit director-general Majid Al Suwaidi told reporters on Friday. “We will not be hosting COP29.”
Nations are scrambling to find an alternative venue for the event that sees representatives from nearly 200 countries gather to agree to joint efforts to tackle climate change.
The event rotates around the world’s regions, but geopolitical tensions amid the Ukraine war have so far scuppered efforts to agree the 2024 venue.
If a host for COP29 cannot be agreed, the location could revert to Bonn, Germany, where the UN climate secretariat is headquartered. REUTERS
