King Charles warned slowing climate change is a ‘job for us all’ (Picture: AP)
The King opened the Cop28 summit with a stark call for ‘rapid’ and ‘transformational’ action to slow climate change.
Speaking to world leaders and delegates at the UN conference in Dubai, Charles warned the world is still ‘dreadfully far off track’ and that cutting emissions is ‘a job for us all’.
The monarch said: ‘I pray with all my heart that Cop28 will be another critical turning point towards genuine transformational action at a time when, already, as scientists have been warning for so long, we are seeing alarming tipping points being reached.
‘Some important progress has been made, but it worries me greatly that we remain so dreadfully far off track as the global stocktake report demonstrates so graphically.
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‘The dangers are no longer distant risks. I’ve seen across the commonwealth, and beyond, countless communities which are unable to withstand repeated shocks, whose lives and livelihoods are laid waste by climate change.
‘Surely real action is required to stem the growing toll of its most vulnerable victims.’
Charles highlighted the rise of deadly extreme weather events, a trend which scientists have widely linked to man-made global warming.
King Charles, Rishi Sunak and Lord Cameron attended the summit’s opening ceremony (Picture: Getty)
Cyclones in the island nations of Vanuatu and Dominica, ‘unprecedented’ flooding in India and Bangladesh, ‘decades-long drought’ in East Africa and Canada’s ‘most severe wildfire season on record’ were just a few examples, he said.
The 75-year-old, who has championed climate causes for decades, continued: ‘Unless we rapidly repair and restore nature’s unique economy based on harmony and balance, which is our ultimate sustainer, our own economy and survivability will be in peril.
‘Records are now being broken so often that we are perhaps becoming immune to what they are really telling us.
‘We are carrying out a vast frightening experiment of changing every ecological condition all at once, at a pace that far outstrips nature’s ability to cope.
Charles addressed a room full of world leaders including the Turkey’s president and India’s PM (Picture: AP)
‘Our choice, now, is a starker and darker one. How dangerous are we actually prepared to make our world? Dealing with this is a job for us all.’
Private companies and governments must step up to help charities and NGOs tke action, the King added.
He backed calls for around $5 trillion to be devoted every year to climate action worldwide as the minimum to ‘drive the transformation we need’.
Charles’ address was his first at the Cop28 as monarch, having previously opened Cop26 in Glasgow in 2021 and Paris in 2015.
The summit is being held in Dubai until December 12 (Picture: Getty)
He is also using the visit to take part in bilateral talks with individual heads of state, having met with the presidents of Nigeria, Guyana and the United Arab Emirates on Thursday.
Rishi Sunak and his foreign secretary, Lord Cameron, were also in attendance.
While travelling to Dubai, the prime minister said the UK can ‘stand tall’ at the summit, insisting the country has ‘a better track record than any other major economy in decarbonising’.
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