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<ul class="summary-list"><li>World leaders are gathering in the UAE for the COP28 climate change summit. </li><li>But President Joe Biden and Xi Jinping of China will be absent.</li></ul>World leaders are gathering today in the United Arab Emirates for the opening of COP28, the world's most important global warming summit.King Charles and Pope Francis are attending alongside delegates from 200 nations.Their core goal will be making better progress toward meeting the Paris 2015 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change to limit global warming to 1.5 Celsius a year above pre-industrial levels.But the leaders of the world's biggest polluting nations — President Joe Biden and China's leader Xi Jinping — will be conspicuous by their absence.<div type="image" title="COP28" height="683" width="1024" msid="105660948" hostid="261" sizebytes="26138"></div>The White House on Sunday announced that Biden would not be attending the opening of the summit, and following criticism of the decision announced a last-minute schedule change Wednesday, sending Vice President Kamala Harris in Biden's place.Previously, the most senior US official scheduled to attend had been US climate envoy John Kerry.Biden has attended both of the previous UN climate summits but is facing criticism for his green policies from Republicans, while also facing pressure from younger Democratic voters to take more action to tackle the climate crisis.Instead, of Xi, China will be represented at the summit by China's climate envoy Xie Zhenhua.<h3>Biden and XI pass on the chance to inject momentum into talks</h3>The US and China are the world's biggest economies, together accounting <a target="_blank" href="https://www.climatewatchdata.org/?utm_source=cait.wri.org&amp;utm_medium=redirecthistorical/Country%20GHG%20Emissions">for around 38% of the world's </a>greenhouse emissions.Tom Evans, a policy advisor at think tank E3G, told Business Insider that the decision by the world's most powerful leaders to skip the opening was particularly disappointing given they'd recently found common ground on the climate crisis amid escalating tensions on a range of other issues.At a meeting in November on the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-xi-meeting-china-plan-supplant-us-working-apec-summit-2023-11?r=US&amp;IR=T">fringes of the APEC summit in San Francisco,</a> Xi and Biden agreed to limit methane emissions, and back global efforts to triple renewable energy production by 2030, one of the main goals of COP28."It's a huge shame to not have the leaders of the two biggest emitters here at COP," said Evans, and citing their recent agreement added: "Their attendance could have further cemented that agreement and helped inject momentum into the talks."A key sticking point in the talks is the reluctance of some countries in the developing world to agree to tough cuts in emissions that they say would hamper their economic development.Xi and Biden are doing little to signal their commitment to sharing the burden of reducing the climate crisis equally by not attending the summit, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/27/climate/biden-cop28-climate-dubai.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&amp;referringSource=articleShare">say critics.</a><h3>Controversy over secret oil deals</h3>Before it even began, the COP28 conference was clouded by controversy.The UAE is one of the world's biggest producers of fossil fuels, and the COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber heads the Gulf State's oil company.The BBC and Centre for Climate Reporting earlier in the week, citing briefing documents, reported that the UAE was planning to broker secret fossil fuel deals with nations attending the summit.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cop28-host-uae-broker-secret-oil-deals-climate-summit-bbc-2023-11?r=US&amp;IR=T#:~:text=A%20COP28%20spokesman%20told%20Business,unverified%20documents%20in%20their%20reporting.%22">In a statement to Business Insider, a </a>COP28 spokesman denied that the documents outlining the planned deals had in fact been discussed in meetings.<h3>The Global Stocktake</h3>But despite the controversy, and even in the absence of Biden and Xi, campaigners remain optimistic.Evans said that central to the success of the summit will be the "Global Stocktake," or addressing the gaps in progress toward meeting the Paris 2015 goals such as phasing out fossil fuels and tripling renewables by 2030.Cherelle Blazer, director of international climate and policy at the Sierra Club, told VOA, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.voanews.com/a/cop28-has-big-agenda-but-won-t-have-biden-xi/7372863.html">that the US delegate </a>attending had the authority to push for meaningful progress."The Senate delegation is going to be there. The full US negotiating team will be there. Kerry will be there. So, everyone that needs to be in place for something actionable to happen will be there," she said.

Biden and Xi are glaringly absent from the UN's climate summit. That doesn't bode well for the world.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>United Arab Emirates, a wealthy petrostate, is hosting this year's UN climate summit. </li><li>Countries will debate cutbacks to burning fossil fuels and climate funding for poorer countries.</li><li>On the first day, countries agreed to some rules for the loss and damage fund.</li></ul>DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — There's always one big question heading into the UN's annual climate conference: What would success look like?Several major themes emerged ahead of the two-week event that kicks off today in Dubai, where some 70,000 climate diplomats, nongovernmental organizations, activists, and reporters from around the world are expected to gather. The central tension is whether this year's host — a wealthy petrostate whose largest exports are oil and natural gas — can corral nearly 200 other participating nations toward cutting back on the fossil fuels that are largely driving the climate crisis.The United Arab Emirates appointed Sultan Al Jaber, the head of the state-owned oil company Adnoc, to preside over the summit. He's also the CEO of Masdar, a state-owned renewable-energy company.Climate advocates say that Al Jaber's role as a fossil-fuel executive is a conflict of interest. Documents obtained by the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cop28-host-uae-broker-secret-oil-deals-climate-summit-bbc-2023-11">Centre for Climate Reporting</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-67508331">first reported by the BBC</a> suggest those concerns might not be misplaced. The documents list talking points for Emirati officials meeting with other countries ahead of COP28 and include the promotion of oil and gas deals, as well as renewable-energy deals.Al Jaber said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnKMhK-cP8U">during a press conference Wednesday</a> he never saw the talking points or used them in his discussions, characterizing the report as "false" and "incorrect.""Every meeting I have conducted with every government, or any other stakeholder, has always been centered around one thing and one thing only, and that is my COP28 agenda and how we can collectively, for the first time ever, adopt a mindset that is centered around implementation and action to keep 1.5 within reach," Al Jaber said.He was referring to the Paris agreement's goal to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2030, compared with preindustrial levels. Climate scientists say that surpassing this threshold would cause catastrophes, including more extreme wildfires, droughts, hurricanes, and floods. People are already facing <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-climate-change-crisis-extreme-weather-is-costing-you-2023-9">the consequences</a> of the climate crisis, with the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/last-three-months-on-earth-were-the-hottest-on-record-2023-9">deadly heat waves this year</a> being just one example.Yet the world isn't doing enough to hold warming to 1.5 degrees; indeed, the planet has already warmed nearly 1.2 degrees Celsius, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.unep.org/resources/emissions-gap-report-2023">according to the UN</a>. Countries need to slash greenhouse-gas emissions by 42% in the coming years to stay on track. This is partly why this year's conference is so important. For the first time, there will be a "global stocktake" — UN speak for a climate report card. We already know countries aren't cutting emissions fast enough, but in Dubai, leaders could agree on how to close the gap.Al Jaber outlined a lot of priorities that would help: tripling renewable-energy capacity, fast-tracking energy efficiency across industries, and a "phasedown" of fossil fuels. He also emphasized the need for wealthy countries to make good on their promises to finance climate action in poorer nations and work out the details of a "loss and damage" fund to help those nations rebuild after climate-fueled disasters.There already was an early win on that front during the opening ceremony on Thursday. Countries agreed to some overarching rules for the loss and damage fund: It will temporarily be run by the World Bank, contributions are voluntary, and the money can come from both the public and private sector.However, the fund doesn't an overarching financial goal. A UN-commissioned <a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" href="https://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/IHLEG-Finance-for-Climate-Action-1.pdf">report</a> said that based on recent disasters, costs of loss and damage could be as much as $150 billion to $300 billion by 2030. So far, UAE and Germany each have pledged the largest sums — at $100 million.Ani Dasgupta, president and CEO of World Resources Institute, told reporters at the summit, "While inadequate to the scale of what is needed, these early contributions will play a critical role in restoring trust between developed and developing countries as the UN climate talks get underway."The progress follows <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/takeaways-un-climate-summit-loss-damage-fossil-fuels-2022-11">a landmark deal at last year's UN climate meeting </a>in Egypt, where the loss and damage fund was first established after a three-decade push by developing countries. They argued that rich economies like the US and those in Europe should be held accountable for their history producing much of the world's emissions.There's one other development that suggests Dubai could lead to more historic climate action. Earlier this month, the US and China agreed to ramp up renewable energy to displace fossil fuels. As the world's two largest polluters, no other countries have more power to shape climate policy. However, President Joe Biden and China's leader, Xi Jinping, won't be attending the conference.

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Biden and Xi are glaringly absent from the UN's climate summit. That doesn't bode well for the world.

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What to watch at COP28 Dubai, the UN climate summit

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