The heads of the 13 biggest emitters, including the U.S., China, and France, will not be present at this year's U.N. climate change conference.

Around 100 world leaders and heads of state are expected at COP29 UN climate summit in Baku on Tuesday and Wednesday amid warnings that 2024 is on track to beat temperature records. But fewer top leaders are making the trip to the Azerbaijani capital than went to COP28 in Dubai and the one before in Glasgow in 2021.

World leaders are converging Tuesday at the United Nations annual climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan although the big names and powerful countries are noticeably absent, unlike past climate talks

But 2024's climate talks are more like the International Chess Federation world championship, lacking recognizable names but big on nerd power and strategy. The top leaders of the 13 largest carbon dioxide-polluting countries will not appear.

The climate talks often have the star power of a soccer World Cup, but many big names and powerful countries are noticeably absent. That includes the top leaders of the 13 largest carbon dioxide-polluting countries.

In a year of weather extremes, four nations with more than 42% of all the world's population – China, the U.S., India and Indonesia – do not have heads of state present.