Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison leaves Downing Street in London, Britain, June 15, 2021. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls/File Photo

Australian Prime Minister said on Friday he would attend the U.N. COP26 climate summit in Glasgow as his conservative government faces global pressure to take further action to cut carbon emissions.

Iran PressAsia: Scott Morrison told a media conference in Sydney: "I confirmed my attendance at the Glasgow summit which I'm looking forward to attending."

Reuters quoted Morrison as saying: "The government will be finalising its position to take to the summit. We're working through those issues."

While many countries have pledged to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, Australia - one of the world's largest emitters of greenhouse gases on a per capita basis - has declined to firm up its targets.

Morrison has said Australia wanted to achieve net zero "as soon as possible and preferably by 2050" and it expects to beat its pledge to cut carbon emissions by 26% to 28% from 2005 levels by 2030.

Morrison is engaged in negotiations with the junior partner in his coalition government, the National party, about strengthening climate targets.

The National party, which is concerned about the impact of carbon targets on farming and coal mining, will meet on Sunday to discuss Morrison's plan.

Morrison must face a general election by May 2022 and he needs to appease moderates in his Liberal Party pressing for climate action, while at the same time retaining support of the National party. 

Earlier, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman said: "President Ebrahim Raisi is not going to attend the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland which is to be held on 31 October – 12 November 2021, and there has been no such plan basically."

"Iran is not a party to this climate agreement, and the Iranian delegation will not participate in this conference as they didn't in the past," Saeed Khatibzadeh added.

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