An aerial view of Dubai, December 5, 2017.
| Photo Credit: David Rodrigo/Unsplash

The United Arab Emirates will not double up on hosting the United Nations’ annual climate conference by holding next year’s summit, according to leadership involved in the event.

Next year’s COP29 climate summit is supposed to be held in Eastern Europe, but Russian opposition to holding the event in a European Union country has left the event without a home – and spurred media reports that the UAE might step in after hosting COP28 in Dubai next month.

“The UAE has not been asked and has no intention of hosting COP29,” Majid Al Suwaidi, director general of the COP28 summit, told reporters on Friday. “We will not be hosting COP29.”

Nations are scrambling to find an alternative venue for the event which sees representatives from nearly 200 countries gather to agree to joint efforts to tackle climate change.

The event rotates around the world’s regions, but geopolitical tensions amid the Ukraine war have so far scuppered efforts to agree next year’s venue.

If a host for COP29 cannot be agreed, the location could revert to Bonn, Germany, where the U.N. climate secretariat is headquartered.