King Charles III told world leaders that the UN COP28 talks in Dubai should be a turning point in the fight against climate change.
The sense of urgency on the issue was heightened after the UN warned on Thursday that 2023 could be the hottest year on record, raising fears the world will fail to meet a target of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
King Charles began two days of speeches by heads of state and government in the oil-rich United Arab Emirates with a stern warning.
I pray with all my heart that COP28 will be another critical turning point towards genuine transformational action, said the king.
More than 170 world leaders are expected to attend COP28, but Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden, whose countries are the biggest polluters of the environment, are absent.
Leaders recognised the threat posed by climate change, but most reiterated commitments already made. Developing countries spoke of the disproportionate impact of global warming on their populations and called on rich nations to honour unfulfilled pledges of climate finance. According to the topic, Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang stressed that developed nations “should substantially scale up their support for developing countries in finance, technology and capacity-building.”
“Despite the fact that India is home to 17% of the world’s population, our share of global carbon emissions is even less than four per cent,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.
The COP28 conference opened on Thursday with the launch of a “loss and damage” fund for vulnerable countries. Later on Friday, observers welcomed another breakthrough: more than 130 countries agreed to prioritise food and agriculture as a major source of emissions in their climate plans.
Over 110 countries also added to the call to triple the amount of renewable energy and double energy efficiency by 2030.
