Global leaders ignoring early warning signals of climate crisis: King Charles

King Charles III of the UK told the Conference of Parties (COP) 28 summit on Friday that global leaders were ignoring the early warning signals of a climate crisis, adding that the world is heading for "dangerous uncharted territory" with devastating consequences for lives and livelihoods.

Delivering the opening address to the COP28 summit, King Charles said: "With all my heart I say that COP28 will be a critical turning point towards genuine transformational action. Some important progress has been made, but it worries me greatly that we remain so dreadfully far off track."

He also said: "We are taking the natural world outside balanced norms and limits and into dangerous uncharted territory."

Conspicuous by their absence at the summit were US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The king told delegates that the "hope of the world" rested on decisions taken at the summit.

"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," he said.

The UK head of state called for a series of measures, including a ramping up of public and private finances, to tackle the climate crisis and rapidly increase renewable energy, media reports said.

"In 2050, our grandchildren won't be asking what we said, they will be living with the consequences of what we did or didn't do," he said. "The Earth does not belong to us, we belong to the Earth."

World leaders, including India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Brazil's President Lula Da Silva and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak addressed delegates on Friday at the talks in Dubai.