(Washington) US President Joe Biden has invited his Chinese counterparts Xi Jinping and Russian Vladimir Putin to his virtual climate summit on April 22-23, a US State Department official told AFP.
In all, 40 world leaders were invited to this meeting, which is supposed to mark Washington’s return to the front line in fighting climate change after the disengagement of Donald Trump’s presidency.
The new president had announced his intention to hold the climate summit on April 22 in conjunction with Earth Day, ahead of the main UN meeting scheduled for November in Glasgow, Scotland.
It will eventually take place over a period of two days, but roughly because of the pandemic.
As promised, Joe Biden decided on his first day in the White House to reinstate the Paris climate agreement, from which his predecessor had withdrawn from the United States. The return of the world’s largest economy, the second largest emitter of carbon dioxide, became effective on February 19 and means almost all of the planet’s countries are now party to the agreement signed in 2015.