Britain's King Charles III told world leaders that the UN's COP28 climate talks in Dubai must be a "critical turning point" in the fight against climate change, with "genuine transformational action".
Charles kicked off two days of speeches by heads of state and government in the Gulf city of Dubai, where the future of fossil fuels has taken centre stage.
"I pray with all my heart that COP28 will be another critical turning point towards genuine transformational action," Charles told assembled leaders, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, French President Emmanuel Macron and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
"The Earth does not belong to us, we belong to the Earth," said the king, a lifelong environmentalist, who missed last year's COP27 in Egypt reportedly due to objections by then UK prime minister Liz Truss.
The COP28 conference opened yesterday with an early victory as nations agreed to launch a "loss and damage" fund for vulnerable countries devastated by natural disasters.
But delegates face two weeks of tough negotiations on an array of issues that have long bedevilled climate talks, starting with the future of oil, gas and coal.
A first draft of the agreement being negotiated by nearly 200 countries includes language on a "phasedown/out" of fossil fuels, which account for the bulk of greenhouse gas emissions.
The sense of urgency was heightened by a UN warning that 2023 is on track to become the hottest year on record, raising fears the world will not meet the goal of limiting warming to 1.5C.
UN Secretary General António Guterres has called for the phasing out of all fossil fuels.
Mr Guterres warned fossil fuel companies that doubling down on their business model to extract and sell more coal and oil would risk the economic sustainability of their companies.
He also urged fossil fuel companies to lead the transition to renewable energy.
"Make no mistake – the road to climate sustainability is also the only viable pathway to economic sustainability of your companies", he said.
Mr Guterres urged governments to play their part in changing the focus for oil coal and gas companies through new regulation and legislation, the imposition of carbon taxes, the ending of fossil fuel subsidies, and to put in place a windfall tax on profits of fossil fuel companies.
He called for leaders to commit to triple renewable energy and double energy efficiency by 2030.
"The economics are clear: the global shift to renewables is inevitable. The only question is how much heating our planet will endure before it happens," he said.
Activists have raised concerns about the influence of the energy industry lobby at COP28 as the conference is chaired by Sultan Al Jaber, who is also head of the UAE's national oil company.
Mr Jaber, who is also chairman of a renewable energy firm, said yesterday the "role of fossil fuels" must be included in a final COP28 deal.
"I will be rolling up my sleeves, engaging and helping address this challenge and delivering real, actionable results," Mr Jaber said.
The draft text sets up a fight between those calling for a "phaseout" and those in favour of a less drastic "phasedown" of fossil fuels. But observers said the inclusion of such language was significant.
"It is more ambitious than anything ever tabled at COP27 (talks in Egypt last year), so even having it among the options is a big step up," said Lola Vallejo, an expert from French climate think tank IDDRI.
Leaders to discuss Gaza war
More than 140 kings, presidents and prime ministers will address delegates today and tomorrow. But the climate crisis will share the agenda with the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog met his UAE counterpart Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan yesterday and will be among the speakers addressing the COP28 conference today.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas had also been scheduled to speak, but his office told AFP that he was no longer going and his foreign minister would be in Dubai instead.
The conference began with a moment of silence, at the request of the Egyptian head of last year's COP, for the civilians who have died in the conflict.
Mr Herzog is using his COP28 visit for a diplomatic push to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas.
He "appealed" to his Emirati counterpart "to employ his full political weight to promote and speed up the return home of the hostages," the Israeli president's office said.
US Vice President Kamala Harris, who will represent the United States at COP28, will meet regional officials on the Israel-Hamas conflict, according to the White House.
Iranian delegates walked out the talks this morning in protest over the presence of Israeli representatives, state media reported.
The Iranian side considered Israel's presence at COP28 "as contrary to the goals and guidelines of the conference and, in protest, it left the conference venue", Energy Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian, who headed the Iranian delegation, was quoted as saying by the official news agency IRNA.
Additional reporting George Lee
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