Barack Obama has confirmed he will attend the COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow, where he is expected to meet young climate activists and highlight their work.
The former US President, who championed environmental issues while in office, will join current president Joe Biden and more than 120 heads of state at the two-week conference, which opens on 31 October.
A spokesman for Mr Obama said: “He will lay out the important progress made in the five years since the Paris Agreement took effect, highlight the leadership of young people around the globe, and urge more robust action going forward by all of us – governments, the private sector, philanthropy, and civil society.”
Mr Obama’s attendance will come as a huge boost for the UN summit, which will see heads of state lay out their plans to cut emissions.
On Friday, the Australian prime minister Scott Morrison confirmed he would attend the event, following weeks of hesitation.
There have been reports that China’s President Xi Jinping is unlikely to attend, though Chinese officials have reportedly not entirely ruled out a change of plans.
On Friday, a recording surfaced of the Queen appearing to bemoan the non-committal approach of some world leaders to the event, saying: “I still don’t know who’s coming.”
Mr Biden will be joined by 13 of his Cabinet members and senior administration officials at the conference, including his top domestic and international climate advisers Gina McCarthy and John Kerry – a show of force which is intended to underline his commitment to addressing the climate crisis.
Around 25,000 delegates are expected to attend the summit in Scotland in total.
Tens of thousands of campaigners, including from groups like Extinction Rebellion, are planning to stage protests on the fringes of the conference.
The summit will be the largest climate conference since landmark talks in Parish in 2015, where countries agreed to keep global warming at “well below” 2C above pre-industrial levels and to try to limit it to 1.5C.
At this year’s conference, 200 countries will be asked for their plans to cut emissions by 2030.