US State Department unveils delegation for COP29 in Baku

From November 11 to 22, 2024, senior officials from over 20 US departments, agencies, and organisations will travel to Baku, Azerbaijan, to demonstrate American leadership in addressing the climate crisis and to pursue robust negotiated outcomes at the 2024 UN Climate Change Conference (COP29).

The delegation will be headed by John Podesta, Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy, Caliber.Az reports per US Department of State.

Notable figures within 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 and Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

·         Bonnie Jenkins, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security

In addition to these officials, the delegation will encompass a diverse range of government representatives focused on the intersection of climate change with armed conflict, finance, food security, gender, global health, trade and investment, youth issues, and more.

Thus, the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) will be held in Azerbaijan on November 11-22. This decision was made at the COP28 plenary session in Dubai on December 11, 2023. During two weeks, Baku will become a global hub, welcoming around 70,000 to 80,000 international guests. 

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is an agreement signed at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992, aimed at preventing dangerous human interference with the climate system. 

By Aghakazim Guliyev