DUBAI — King Charles launched the COP28 climate summit in Dubai with a rallying cry for world leaders — including his under-fire prime minister, Rishi Sunak — to keep their promises to the world.
“I pray with all my heart that COP28 will be a crucial turning point towards real transformational action,” the British head of state said in his opening speech to the UAE-hosted gathering.
He told leaders: “The hope of the world lies in the decisions you must make. »
Charles, a longtime environmental campaigner who regularly spoke out on green issues as Prince of Wales, has a duty to stay out of politics as an unelected head of state. His speech will have been vetted in advance by Sunak’s Number 10, but it will still be closely watched at Westminster, amid concern over Sunak’s climate record.
In a speech that touched on themes familiar to the monarch, Charles highlighted the United Nations climate body’s latest assessment that the world is behind schedule in meeting its goals for limiting global warming.
“We are taking the natural world outside of balanced norms and boundaries and into dangerous and uncharted territory,” he warned. “We are conducting a vast, frightening experiment in changing all ecological conditions at once, at a rate that far exceeds nature’s capacity to cope.”
Sunak was in the audience. While retaining Britain’s headline targets for reducing carbon emissions, the Conservative prime minister stressed that moving to net zero emissions should not harm voters. In September, Downing Street announced plans to relax a series of short-term targets intended to ease the transition away from fossil fuels. The government has also increased its efforts in domestic oil and gas exploration.
Speaking to reporters ahead of the King’s speech on his flight to Dubai, the Prime Minister said he would “walk around very proudly” at the COP, citing Britain’s £1.6bn support for international climate finance projects – and downplaying any suggestion of a split. with the King.
“I’m delighted he’s at the COP,” Sunak said. “He issues a call to arms in his opening statement.
“The fact that our head of state is out there, issuing a call to arms in the opening statement, speaks volumes about our type of leadership as a country, which speaks volumes about the respect he has on this issue throughout the world.”
