From November 11-22, 2024, senior Biden-Harris Administration officials from more than 20 U.S. Departments, Agencies, and organizations will travel to Baku, Azerbaijan to highlight U.S. leadership on tackling the climate crisis and to work towards strong negotiated outcomes at the 2024 UN Climate Change Conference (COP 29), US State Department reports.
The U.S. delegation will be led by Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy John Podesta. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will not travel to Baku.
Other senior officials in the U.S. delegation include:
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Thomas Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture
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Jennifer M. Granholm, Secretary of Energy
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Ali Zaidi, Assistant to the President and White House National Climate Advisor
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Brenda Mallory, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality
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David Turk, Deputy Secretary of Energy
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Laura Daniel-Davis, Acting Deputy Secretary of the Interior
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Jane Nishida, Acting Deputy Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
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Rick Spinrad, Ph.D, Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere & Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
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Bonnie Jenkins, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security
In addition to those listed above, the U.S. delegation will include a wide range of other U.S. government officials working on how climate change relates to armed conflict, finance, food security, gender, global health, trade and investment, youth issues, and more.
USAID Executive Director Samantha Power will also miss COP29. Both Secretary of State Blinken and Samantha Power attended previous climate conferences in Dubai and Egypt.
