DUBAI (Reuters) – Leaders from around the world gathered in Dubai on Friday for the United Nations climate conference (COP28), at which King Charles III was entrusted with the opening speech, and in which he judged that the planet was “terribly far behind” in the fight against climate change.
The British sovereign warned that climate change was no longer a distant risk and urged international leaders to take more action to combat its effects.
“I pray with all my heart that COP28 will be a new decisive turning point towards true transformational action,” he said, referring to the COP21 summit held in Paris in 2015.
“We are seeing alarming tipping points being reached.”
The King, whose role is ceremonial, attends the summit on behalf of the British government and following an invitation from the host country.
After a summer of 2023 marked by record heat and drought, the annual United Nations climate meeting is set to address a series of controversial issues, including phasing out fossil fuels and financing the energy transition in developing countries. development.
Numerous speeches are expected, including from United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who has often made climate change a rallying point, as well as world leaders, such as French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Away from the main stage, delegations and technical committees got to work Friday with the colossal task of assessing progress on global climate goals, particularly the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to 2 °C above pre-industrial temperatures.
Scientists say that an increase in global temperature beyond this threshold will have catastrophic and irreversible consequences worldwide.
The United Nations published on Friday its first draft text which could serve as a model for the final agreement of the COP28 summit, which ends on December 12.
This draft proposes “building blocks” for a policy outcome and includes several options to address one of the summit’s thorniest questions: deciding whether, and to what extent, fossil fuels should play a role in the future.
One such option is to include commitments to gradually reduce or phase out the use of fossil fuels, abandon coal power, and triple renewable energy capacity by 2030.
On Thursday, COP28 President Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber of the United Arab Emirates urged countries to work with oil companies to find common ground.
Involving fossil fuel companies in COP28 discussions is essential to solving the climate crisis, he said.
The summit also scored a first victory by officially approving on Thursday the agreement providing for the creation of a “loss and damage” fund to help vulnerable countries facing the consequences of climate change.
(Reporting Valerie Volcovici, William James, Katy Daigle and Alexander Cornwell; French version Kate Entringer, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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