Chinese president Xi Jinping will talk to global leaders at the UN climate summit in Glasgow by video link, the foreign ministry has announced.

China the biggest source of carbon dioxide and other climate-changing industrial gases, had left the world guessing what role Mr Xi might play at the meeting that opens on Sunday.

Mr Xi has avoided foreign travel since before the coronavirus pandemic began in early 2020.

On Thursday, China formally submitted its climate goals, pledging to reach peak emissions of CO2 before 2030 and achieve “carbon neutrality”, or using forests and other measures to absorb as much carbon as it emits, by 2060.

The document included targets previously announced by Mr Xi but set no additional goals.