Putin, Xi Jinping Boycotting Climate Summit, G20 Meeting

Two of the most important events on the global diplomatic calendar take place at the end of this month.

Photo Insert: Russian President Vladimir Putin

The Group of 20 summit, a meeting of the leaders of the world’s most advanced economies, will take place in Rome on the weekend of Oct. 30. On Oct. 31, COP26, a United Nations climate summit, will begin in Glasgow, Scotland, Adam Taylor and Claire Parker reported for the Washington Post.

In both events, the topic of discussion is a vital one: How governments can work together to change the disastrous course climate change has placed the planet on. But both will be missing an important element: the attendance of some of the world’s key politicians in the fight to reduce carbon emissions.

The Kremlin announced Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin won’t attend the G-20 or COP26. The Post’s Isabelle Khurshudyan and Brady Dennis report it is considered unlikely that China’s leader Xi Jinping, who has not traveled internationally since January 2020, will attend either.

Many others, such as Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro and Mexico’s Andrés Manuel López Obrador, are not expected to attend. The leaders of other big nations, such as India’s Narendra Modi and Japan’s Fumio Kishida, have not given concrete plans or have suggested they will attend only one of the events.

Only a few who have not returned their RSVP, like Kishida, have given a clear excuse. (Japan holds elections on Oct. 31.) It is certainly understandable that in the midst of a pandemic, world leaders may not be able to travel as freely as before.

COP26 organizers said last month that over 100 “political heads of government” have confirmed their attendance, and many big names are making the trip.

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