White House chief economic adviser Gary Cohn will meet Monday with more than a dozen global leaders to discuss climate change and related issues in New York, according to news reports Tuesday.
Cohn, director of the National Economic Council, will convene the session a day before the United Nations General Assembly opens, Politico reported.
President Donald Trump and other world leaders will speak during the U.N. session. Trump has slammed climate change as a "hoax" perpetrated by the Chinese.
According to a copy of an invitation obtained by Politico, the breakfast meeting will discuss "international energy and climate issues."
The invitation was sent Sept. 7.
In addition, the session seeks to provide an "opportunity for key ministers with responsibility for these issues to engage in an informal exchange of views and discuss how we can move forward most productively," according to the invitation.
"It is too early to say what may come out of the meeting, but it shows that the U.S. is keen to engage with key countries," one diplomat told The New York Times, which first reported the meeting.
"If the U.S. expresses its clear intent on addressing climate change issues at the meeting, that would be a positive sign."
In June, President Donald Trump said the United States would withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, which is backed by nearly 200 nations.
Cohn was among White House officials encouraging the president to not leave the Paris accord, which Trump has said does not give the United States a fair deal.
In addition, the State Department said last month the U.S. would remain a part of global climate change talks, including those on the steps implementing the Paris pact, "to protect U.S. interests and ensure all future policy options remain open to the administration," according to the report.