Obama to Discuss U.S. Climate Change Plan During U.N. Summit

President Barack Obama will highlight strides the U.S. has made on climate change when he addresses a major U.N. climate summit next week.

At least 120 heads of state and government, in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, are expected to attend the summit on Tuesday hosted by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, officials said on Thursday, according to Reuters.

The summit will allow the U.S. to showcase actions we are taking across the government and across the country," said John Podesta, a senior Obama adviser.

It will also allow global leaders to move closer to an ambitious climate deal due to be finalized in 2015.

Podesta added that the leaders of China and India won't attend the summit, according to Reuters. Obama has meetings with them scheduled for November and late September, respectively.

The White House unveiled this week new executive actions and public-private partnerships with major companies to boost the use of renewable energy and target potent greenhouse gases.

Administration officials like Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy and Jason Furman, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, will travel across the country in a "full-court press" next week to highlight U.S. moves on climate, Podesta said.

Reversing the impacts of climate change has become a legacy problem for Obama, who has had a hard time making headway on foreign and domestic policy goals since being re-elected in 2012.

A number of executive actions and other moves has followed.

The international perception of the United States' role has changed since the Obama administration renewed its focus on the issue, said State Department climate change Special Envoy Todd Stern.

"There is no question the United States is in stronger standing," Stern told reporters, according to Reuters.

The State Department submitted to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change its plan of what a post-2020 global climate agreement should look like.

Details for the plan, submitted on Thursday, were not made available, but the State Department said it will submit the proposed U.S. contribution to the global climate deal by March.