Kamala Harris, the Vice President, is scheduled to visit Dubai this week for the United Nations’ climate talks, which are being held in the United Arab Emirates. The White House made this announcement on Wednesday.

Harris is scheduled to participate in COP28 on both Friday and Saturday, where heads of state including French President Emmanuel Macron, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will deliver speeches over the course of two days.

Harris is set to be the most senior American delegate among the many legislators and government representatives involved in the upcoming two-week talks, starting on Thursday. Although he has been present at the previous two COPs during his term, President Joe Biden is not anticipated to attend the conference in Dubai.

According to a statement from White House press secretary Kirsten Allen, the Vice President’s involvement in COP28 will uphold the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts in leading ambitious, worldwide measures to tackle the climate emergency, promote U.S. climate objectives, and support a successful outcome at COP28.

The upcoming discussions will likely center on challenging topics, including the transition away from fossil fuels and establishing a structure for a global fund to address irreversible climate damage in developing nations.

Nations will participate in a “global stocktake” to evaluate the progress of the 196 countries involved in the 2015 Paris climate agreement towards their goal of limiting global temperature increase to less than 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-Industrial Revolution levels. Many nations are lagging behind their targets.

Countries such as the United States plan to utilize the findings of the stocktake in order to urge other nations to take action and implement more ambitious measures for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in their next set of climate action plans, which are scheduled to be released in 2025.

“The credibility of the global stocktake must be established through honesty, strength, and vision,” stated U.S. Special Climate Envoy John Kerry during a press call on Wednesday. “It must clearly outline the progress made since the Paris Agreement.”

This report was contributed to by Sara Schonhardt.