Cop28 live: King Charles speaks on second day of key climate change summit; Rishi Sunak heads to Dubai

King Charles said the world was facing a dark choice and asks how dangerous are we prepared to make it for future generations.

He said humans are carrying out a vast, frightening experiment, changing every
ecological condition, all at once, at a pace that far outstrips nature’s ability to cope.

The conference was an unmissable opportunity to keep common hope alive, he said. “I can only urge you to meet it with ambition, imagination, and a true sense of the emergency we face.”

He said delegates should remember what the indigenous world view teaches us “that we are all connected. Not only as human beings, but with all living
things and all that sustains life… The earth does not
belong to us, we belong to the Earth.”

King Charles is addressing the conference now. He says he was touched to be asked to speak at the opening of COP21 in Paris, which culminated in the landmark Paris Agreement, and adds “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.”

He says we are seeing alarming tipping points being reached and that is greatly worried that we are so far off track in efforts to address the climate crisis.

“Unless we rapidly repair and restore nature’s economy, based on harmony and balance, which is our ultimate sustainer, our own economy and survivability will be imperilled.”

Damian Carrington

The prominent climate scientist, Dr Friederike Otto, at Imperial College London, has a simple message for Cop28.

“Climate change is already destroying lives, livelihoods, and ecosystems around the world. Until we radically cut carbon emissions, extreme weather events will become more frequent and intense. That means there is a human rights imperative to phasing out fossil fuels.

“Despite their carefully crafted, green-washed talking points, fossil fuel companies will not save the world. Since 2021, we’ve known that no new gas and oilfields could be developed if the world is to keep warming to 1.5C. But fossil fuel companies continue to expand their operations, ignoring the suffering of millions of people around the world, so they can make more money.”

“Climate negotiations need to be highly sceptical of the influence and involvement of big oil.”

Cop28 is being run Sultan Al Jaber, the CEO of an oil company planning a huge expansion in production. He says his background is an advantage in bringing everyone to the climate table.

My colleague Nina Lakhani has more on yesterday’s loss and damage agreement.

As the second day gets under way, the president of the G77 plus China group – the bloc of 135 developing countries which played a key role in yesterday’s historic resolution on operationalising the loss and damage fund – said the decision sent a clear political message.

“It was a milestone in terms of creating a positive mood for the very, very complex process on the GST [global stock take] that we had ahead of us now. But the fund needs to be filled up. The pledges announced were a welcome sign, but they were just pledges and must materialise as soon as possible. And we expect much, much more because of the impact of loss and damage in developing countries,” said ambassador Pedro Pedroso of Cuba.

Yesterday’s pledges by UAE, Germany, the UK and Japan amounted to almost $439m for the start-up loss and damage fund – not nothing but a drop in the ocean compared with the $400bn a year of climate related irreversible losses being incurred.

Further pledges are likely as world leaders take to the stage today and tomorrow, but some countries have an inglorious track record on repacking existing funding commitments into new pledges – and a move towards providing loans rather than grants. “We have seen a lot of recycling of money by developed countries like the UK outrageously changing its methodology on climate finance. We’re not naive and we’ll keep a check on that.”

Future loss and damage will depend on the success of climate mitigation and climate adaptation measures, which all depend on the global stocktake and climate finance negotiations under way.

“Mitigation, adaptation, supporting technology and capacity building are all interconnected with each other – and loss and damage. In the context of the GST, there has to be the recognition that the means of implementation is the single most important cross-cutting factor that will enable developing countries to transition justly to another development model. So we will be watching the negotiations on the GST very closely,” said Pedroso.

From my colleague Damian Carrington.

Bad news for Rishi Sunak as he arrives in Dubai today: the UK’s own North Sea regulator has concluded the new annual oil and gas licensing rounds Sunak is forcing are unnecessary. The North Sea Transition Authority, which is charged with maximising oil and gas extraction, said a mandatory annual process was not needed and undermined its independence. This was the “unanimous view” of the NSTA board, as the Financial Times reported.

Tessa Khan, at campaign group Uplift, said the NSTA minutes showed the government “pressed ahead with a policy that will do significant damage to the UK’s reputation and efforts to tackle climate change globally, despite being told by the body in charge of licensing that it is completely unnecessary”. The Labour leader, Keir Starmer, who, like Sunak, is attending Cop28, has ruled out new licences if elected, and called Sunak’s move a “gimmick”.

Sunak’s announcement was widely criticised and runs counter to the International Energy Agency’s statements that all new fossil fuel projects are incompatible with net zero goals, and the consensus of scientists that most oil and gas reserves must stay in the ground to restrict global heating to 1.5C.

My colleague Patrick Greenfield reports that the loss and damage commitments – money being pledged to poorer countries to help them deal with the costs of the climate crisis – are continuing today after yesterday’s landmark agreement. Canada has committed $60m to the fund, environment minister Steven Guilbeault announced outside his country’s pavilion.

That brings the initial size of the fund to US$489m. €225m ($245m) has already been committed by the EU, including US$100m from Germany. There is also £60m ($75m) from the UK, $24.5m from the US and $10m from Japan.

A little more from my colleague Aletha Adu on what Sunak said when he landed in UAE this morning.

Asked who he meant when he said he was “not in hock to ideological zealots” over climate change, the UK prime minister told broadcasters in Dubai: “Perhaps the people protesting outside my house recently. “But there are people who think we should get to net zero without any regard to the cost on ordinary families. I don’t think that’s right. “I think we’ve got to be cognisant of the impact of this on ordinary families up and down the country.”

Sunak declined to single out China when asked which countries need to do more to tackle climate change, and heaped praise on Cop28 host the United Arab Emirates.

Pressed on whether Beijing should do more, the prime minister told reporters in Dubai: “Everyone collectively needs to do more to make sure that we do reduce emissions sufficiently.”

Quizzed on scepticism over a major oil producer hosting the summit, he said: “I actually commend the UAE for their leadership. “They’ve been particularly strong on the issue of climate finance.”

The UK has “a great story to tell” at the Cop28 climate conference in Dubai, Sunak has said. Challenged over whether his rollback of climate ambition at home makes it harder to push other countries to do more, the prime minister told broadcasters: “We have got an incredible track record in decarbonising in the UK, faster than any other major economy. We should be really proud of that. “And I’ll be proud of that record at my meetings later today.”

He said other countries were “deeply appreciative” of the support that they were receiving from the UK to help them with the transition.

Sultan Al Jaber, the UAE president of Cop28, is addressing the conference now urging delegates to be flexible and to work together during the negotiations. He says it is essential global south countries do not have to chose between development and climate action. “let this be the Cop when we deliver on our promises [of financial support to the those in the global south]” he told delegates.

He says the next two weeks will not be easy, adding everyone understands the gravity of the situation now they need to accelerate progress and push a “positive can do attitude.”

“Let’s delivery some good news to the world.”

While we are waiting for day 2 of Cop28 to get going this is good read on what it is all about and why it matters from my colleague Fiona Harvey

Damian Carrington

My colleague Damian Carrington reports that the arrival of the world’s leaders at today’s conference is adding an extra challenge for delegates.. . and journalists.

Cops are always a marathon for delegates, long days and long walks around the huge sites. But today is an ultra-marathon for the thousands of attendees. The short walk from the metro to the venue was blocked off, a security mounted for the world leaders arriving today. That meant a trek in the sun to even enter the site. And once in, more barricades have been erected to cordon off the presidents and prime ministers, turning 5 minute trots into 30 minute slogs.

World leaders and assorted dignitaries are due to fly in to Cop28 today including UK prime minister Rishi Sunak and King Charles. My colleague Alehta Adu is with the prime minister and says he has just touched down.

King Charles, a long time campaigner on climate issues, is due to give a “call to arms” in his opening statement to the conference. Sunak on the other hand will have his work cut out defending a series of policy moves – including a decision to push ahead with new oil and gas licences in the north sea – that have been widely condemned by climate experts and campaigners.

Good morning. This is Matthew Taylor, on the second day of the Conference of Parties 28th climate change summit, or Cop28.

The Guardian will be liveblogging the negotiations throughout, as always, and we look forward to your contributions: please email me on matthew.taylor@theguardian.com with thoughts and suggestions. Helena Horton (helena.horton@theguardian.com) will be taking over later on.

Today will see the formal opening ceremony, where the world’s leaders will be addressing the conference. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is flying in from the UK, as is the leader of the opposition Sir Keir Starmer.

Yesterday saw significant developments at the conference as a deal on a fund for loss and damage was finally done after many years of discussion; we lost count of the number of people who called it historic.

A quick summary of yesterday’s events with the loss and damage fund to help countries deal with the impacts of climate breakdown the big news of the day;

• The UAE immediately pledged $100m to the fund, and was followed by contributions from the EU, led by Germany, the UK, the US and Japan, though the US in particular were criticised for their relatively modest pledge

• The World Meteorological Organization said that 2023 would be the hottest year ever recorded. UN secretary-general António Guterres responded to the news by saying “We are living through climate collapse in real time”

• A representative of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi said coal is, and will continue to be, an important part of India’s energy needs

Let’s see what today brings.