China, Japan, Australia and Mexico are also absent from the U.N.'s latest agenda for leaders' speeches at COP29. The EU will be represented at the summit by European Council President Charles Michel and the bloc's climate policy chief, Wopke Hoekstra.

China has requested that countries hold talks at next week's COP29 U.N. climate summit on carbon border taxes and other "restrictive trade measures" that Beijing says are hurting developing countries,

The 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) opens next week in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. The summit takes place between November, and

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, US President Joe Biden and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will be absent. Read more at straitstimes.com.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will not attend this year's United Nations climate change summit, known as COP29, a Commission spokesperson told Reuters on Tuesday. Von der Leyen will skip the climate talks because of political developments in Brussels.