World leaders starts delivering their addresses at UN climate summit in Dubai

By Muhammed Enes Calli

ISTANBUL (AA) - World leaders on Friday began delivering their addresses at the 2023 edition of the UN climate summit, commonly known as COP28 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Addressing the COP28 climate summit in UAE's Dubai, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the conference should be a ray of hope in the struggle against climate change.

"Make this COP a new hope for the future," he told the world leaders attending the conference.

"You can prevent planetary crash and burn. We need leadership, cooperation, and political will. And we need it now," Guterres said, adding that climate justice is "long overdue."

United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Friday announced the establishment of a $30 billion fund for global climate solutions.

The fund aims to bridge the financial gap regarding climate issues and would attract $250 billion investment by 2030, Al Nahyan said in his opening remarks at the UN climate change conference, commonly known as COP28 this year, in Dubai.

He stressed that the UAE has invested $100 billion in financing climate action and renewable and clean energy and is committed to investing an additional $130 billion over the next seven years.

In his address during the opening of the COP28 summit in Dubai, King Charles III mentioned the loss of lives across the globe caused by climate change-related extreme weather events.

"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," said the king.

For Türkiye, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended the summit.

A statement by the presidency read that President Erdogan was welcomed by UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres upon his arrival at Expo City Dubai.

The event is attracting over 180 heads of state and governments from across the globe. Noteworthy is the substantial number of attendance requests, exceeding 500,000 participants.

The conference is set to continue until Dec. 12.