(Bloomberg) -- The top American climate negotiator is visiting Saudi Arabia as the kingdom spotlights its renewable energy plans and the U.S. tries to coax more nations to put greater curbs on greenhouse gas emissions. 

U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry will visit Riyadh on Oct. 24 and 25 to meet with private sector and government officials on the issue, the State Department said Thursday. Kerry is also set to participate in the Middle East Green Initiative summit, a forum set to highlight the region’s first pact on climate change. 

The meetings come in a burst of last-minute diplomacy ahead of the United Nation’s climate summit beginning Oct. 31 in Glasgow, Scotland. Since January, Kerry has traveled the world encouraging other nations to decarbonize their economies and bolster planned emissions cuts in a bid to restrain global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, a critical tipping point. 

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