Biden invites Saudi, UAE leaders to virtual climate summit

Washington - The two-day summit will be held from April 22 to 23.

US President Joe Biden has invited 40 world leaders, including those of the UAE and Saudi Arabia for an online summit on the climate crisis.

The summit - scheduled for April 22 and 23 - is intended to underscore the urgency with which the world must act and highlight the economic benefits of going green, the White House said on Friday.

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia and the UAE President, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, were among 40 world leaders invited to the summit, according to the statement.

European leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson were invited. So were Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Biden has also invited Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Biden told reporters he had not yet spoken to the two leaders about it, “but they know they’re invited.”

Biden urged other leaders to use the summit as a forum in which to outline their own new, more forceful contributions.

The event is to be streamed live on the internet for public viewing.

The US will announce an "ambitious" new 2030 emissions target for the country by the time the summit gets under way, the White House said, part of Washington's new push to meet the goals of the Paris climate agreement.