The King today told world leaders that 'the Earth does not belong to us', as he called on nations to work together at the Cop28 eco-summit in Dubai.
The monarch told delegates his grandchildren will be 'living with the consequences of what we did or didn't do' on climate change in 2050, but did not mention George, Charlotte, Louis, Archie and Lilibet by name.
Charles is the only foreign head of state who has been invited to speak at the climate action meeting of global leaders in honour of the work he has been undertaking in the environmental field for decades.
The King said at the opening of the World Climate Action Summit this morning that despite some progress, 'transformational action' was needed as the dangers of climate change are 'no longer distant risks'.
He told heads of state, heads of government and business and climate delegates at Expo City Dubai that nature was being taken into 'dangerous, uncharted territory' by human activity, and called for 'nature-positive' change.
Cop28 will be the first time that countries will conduct a 'global stocktake' of progress made since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015, although it is expected that it will not produce a positive result.
Charles pictured with his grandchildren, George, Charlotte and Louis in a family photo from 2018
King Charles III speaks during the opening ceremony at the Cop28 Climate Summit
His Majesty told delegates that he prays the summit will be a critical turning point
Eco-campaigner Charles speaks with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in Dubai today
In his address, the King 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.
'Despite all the attention, there is 30 per cent more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere now than there was back then, and almost 40 per cent more methane.
'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.
'The dangers are no longer distant risks. I have 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.'
Under the Paris Agreement, states agreed to limit the average global temperature rise to 2C above pre-industrial levels and aim to stop it from rising above 1.5C.
But the United Nations has warned that the planet is on course for a catastrophic 3C increase by the end of the century under current climate policies, despite efforts.
The King pointed to repeated cyclones seen in island nations, wildfires across Europe and unprecedented floods in Asia as some of many clear signs of ongoing climate change.
'As I have tried to say on many occasions, 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 imperilled,' he said.
Charles tasked world leaders to answer five key questions during the climate summit, adding that 'the hope of the world' rests on decisions taken over the coming days.
They are how public and private organisations can be brought together to combat climate change; how to ensure money is found for developments to secure a sustainable future; how innovation can be accelerated; how long-term approaches can be found; and how an 'ambitious new vision' can be forged for the next century.
Cop28 began on Thursday and runs until December 12, with the UK Government pledging £1.6billion for international climate change projects throughout the summit.
That includes a £60million contribution to a loss and damage fund for the world's poorest countries worth a total of about 420million US dollars (£332million), which was announced on Thursday.
Charles' address was his first at the conference as King, having previously opened Cop26 in Glasgow in 2021 and Cop21 in Paris in 2015.
King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein of Jordan and King Charles III attend the opening ceremony
King Charles III laughs as he talks to world leaders at the two-week summit in Dubai
He chats to president of the United Arab Emirates Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan
The King told world leaders his grandchildren will be living with the effects of climate change
King Charles III greets King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein of Jordan in Dubai this morning
From left, Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Charles, Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Simon Stiell, of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
King Charles III gestures as he speaks to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at the summit this morning
The King shares a laugh with the president of the UAE Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan
Participating world leaders and delegates pose for a family photo during the Cop28 summit
King Charles III speaks with Pakistan's prime minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar this morning
Closing his speech, the King said: 'Ladies and gentlemen, in your hands, is an unmissable opportunity to keep our common hope alive.
'I can only urge you to meet it with ambition, imagination, and a true sense of the emergency we face, and together with a commitment to the practical action upon which our shared future depends.
'After all, ladies and gentlemen, 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.
'So if we act together to safeguard our precious planet, the welfare of all our people will surely follow.
'We need to remember, too, that the indigenous worldview teaches us that we are all connected, not only as human beings but with all living things and all that sustains life.
'As part of this grand and sacred system, harmony with nature must be maintained.
'The Earth does not belong to us, we belong to the Earth.'
The speech was watched by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron, with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, shadow foreign secretary David Lammy and shadow climate change secretary Ed Miliband also attending the summit.
Before his opening address, the King also held bilateral talks with the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani and the president of Israel Isaac Herzog.
He also met the French president Emmanuel Macron and president Lula of Brazil, who is the president-elect of Cop30 in Belem in 2025.
The King has used his trip to Dubai to promote peace in the region in several talks, having also met with the presidents of Nigeria, Guyana and the United Arab Emirates on Thursday.
Aides had earlier said His Majesty 'deeply appreciates' the invitation, which came from the UAE as host nation and at the request of the British Government.
As he met students at a campus in Dubai, the King told Lord Cameron: 'I would not have missed it for the world.'
Later, he was given a present by indigenous tribes from Brazil of a handmade decorated wooden bird, a symbol of biodiversity.
Joenia Wapichana said: 'I thanked him for everything he has done to help protect biodiversity in the Amazon.'
However, in news that could cause red faces among green campaigners, Cop28 is likely to be the biggest and most polluting event of its kind, according to official figures.
The amount of greenhouse gases emitted by the event is set to outstrip previous meetings due to the sheer numbers attending, experts said.
More than 104,000 official delegates are attending the summit – and an estimated 400,000 others will attend related events in the United Arab Emirates.
The vast majority of attendees at the oil and gas-rich Gulf country will come by plane – so the amount of emissions produced is likely to dwarf that in previous years.
Scientists calculate a return economy commercial flight to Dubai from the UK will generate about 1.3 tons of CO2 – and a private jet more than nine times this figure per passenger.
Prince Albert II of Monaco and Charles shake hands at the UN's environmental conference
King Charles III walks on stage during the opening ceremony at the Expo City Dubai
Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, King Charles III and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Simon Stiell during the 'family photo' of all the attending world leaders
King Charles III leaving the group photo at the Cop28 UN Climate Summit in Dubai
The King was given a handmade decorated wooden bird by indigenous tribes from Brazil
However, climate experts say that the huge amounts of greenhouse gas generated by the event will be worth it if it helps to put the brakes on global warming, by getting countries to commit to reducing their emissions.
Richard Black, of the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, said: 'Given the number of people expected here, yes this probably will have the highest carbon footprint of any Cop to date.
'But the size of that footprint is absolutely dwarfed by the emission cuts that a deal can produce. If all the agreements made at the Glasgow summit two years ago are realised, that would save 70,000 times more carbon than the summit itself produced.
'And for this one, the biggest element of a deal that's on the table – agreeing to triple renewable energy deployment by 2030 – would avoid 7billion tons of CO2 emissions this decade, equivalent to about 20 years of UK emissions.'
A Cop28 spokesman said: 'The summit will demonstrate its sustainability ambition by delivering a carbon conscious and sustainable event.'
King Charles III's speech to delegates at Cop28 in full
Secretary General, Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Presidents, Prime Ministers, Ministers, Ladies and Gentlemen.
I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to His Highness Sheik Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan for his warm invitation to speak to you at the opening of Cop28.
Eight years ago, I was most touched to be asked to speak at the opening of Cop21 in Paris, which of course culminated in the Paris Agreement; a landmark moment of hope and optimism, when nations put differences to one side for the common good.
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.
I have spent a large proportion of my life trying to warn of the existential threats facing us over global warming, climate change and biodiversity loss. But I was not alone.
For instance, Sheikh Mohamed 's dear father, Sheikh Zayed, was advocating for clean energy at a time even before the United Arab Emirates, as such, came into being.
All these decades later, and despite all the attention, there is 30 per cent more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere now than there was back then, and almost forty per cent more methane.
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. The dangers are no longer distant risks.
I have 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?
Repeated cyclones batter vulnerable island nations, like Vanuatu and Dominica. India, Bangladesh and Pakistan have been experiencing unprecedented floods, and East Africa is suffering a decades-long drought.
This past summer, in common with Spain, Greece, the United States and many other countries, Canada experienced its most severe wildfire season on record, with eighteen-and-a-half million hectares of land burned, causing terrible loss of life and property and, of course, releasing enormous amounts of greenhouse gasses that contribute to dangerous 'feedback loops', to which climate scientists have been alerting us for decades.
As I have tried to say on many occasions, 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 imperilled.
Records are now being broken so often that we are perhaps becoming immune to what they are really telling us.
When we see the news that this last Northern Hemisphere Summer, for instance, was the warmest global average temperature on record, we need to pause to process what this actually means: we are taking the natural world outside balanced norms and limits, and into dangerous, uncharted territory.
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.
As we work towards a zero-carbon future, we must work equally towards being nature-positive.
With what we are witnessing, 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. Change will come by working together and making it easier to embrace decisions that will sustain our world, rather than carry on as though there are no limits – or as though our actions have no consequences.
As you gather for these critical negotiations, the hope of the world rests on the decisions you must take.
I can only encourage you to consider some practical questions which might inform the task ahead of you: firstly, how can our multilateral organizations – which were established at a different time for different challenges – be strengthened for the crisis we face?
How can we bring together our public, private, philanthropic and N.G.O. sectors ever more effectively, so that they all play their part in delivering climate action, each complementing the unique strengths of the others?
Public finance alone will never be sufficient. But with the private sector firmly at the table, and a better, fairer international financial system, combined with the innovative use of risk reduction tools like first loss risk guarantees, we could mobilize the trillions of dollars we need – in the order of four-and-a-half to five trillion a year – to drive the transformation we need.
Secondly, how can we ensure that finance flows to those developments most essential to a sustainable future, and away from practices that make our world more dangerous – across every industry in every part of the world?
I have, for instance, been heartened by some of the steps taken by parts of the insurance sector, which plays such a vital role in incentivizing more sustainable approaches and providing an invaluable source of investment to reduce the risks we face.
Thirdly, how can we accelerate innovation and the deployment of renewable energy, of clean technology and other green alternatives, to move decisively towards investment in this vital transition across all industries?
For instance, how can we increase investments in regenerative agriculture, which can be a nature-positive carbon sink?
What incentives are necessary – and how can those which have a perverse impact be eliminated with all due speed?
Fourthly, how can we bring together different solutions and initiatives to ensure coherent, long-term approaches across sectors, countries and industries?
For virtually every artificial source of greenhouse gas emissions, there are alternatives or mitigations which can be put in place.
That is why it is encouraging to see industry transition plans being developed, both nationally and globally, which will help each sector of our global economy onto practical pathways to a zero-carbon, Nature-positive future.
Fifthly, how can we forge an ambitious new vision for the next one hundred years?
How can we draw on the extraordinary ingenuity of our societies – the ideas, knowledge and energy of our young people, our artists, our engineers, our communicators, and, importantly, our Indigenous peoples – to imagine a sustainable future for people everywhere?
A future that is in harmony with nature, not set against her.
Ladies and gentlemen, in your hands is an unmissable opportunity to keep our common hope alive.
I can only urge you to meet it with ambition, imagination, and a true sense of the emergency we face, and together with a commitment to the practical action upon which our shared future depends.
After all, Ladies and Gentlemen, 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.
So, if we act together to safeguard our precious planet, the welfare of all our people will surely follow.
We need to remember that 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.
As part of this grand and sacred system, harmony with nature must be maintained.
The Earth does not belong to us, we belong to the Earth.
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