German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande are due to attend an international meeting on climate protection in preparation for the United Nations Climate Change Conference later this year in Paris, the Associated Press reports.

The preparatory talks on Tuesday, May 19, in Berlin involve 35 countries.

The Paris summit in December aims to curb climate change and rising global temperatures, which scientists say are largely driven by carbon emissions.

Merkel has made climate protection one of the key goals of her political agenda and has also said Germany wants to further focus on it as it holds the G-7 climate presidency this year.

In her weekly podcast on Saturday, Merkel said "it's important to create the requirements for a binding climate deal that can be implemented globally in 2020."