King Charles III: "I've seen across the Commonwealth and beyond communities which are unable to withstand repeated shocks." [photo from COP28 live coverage]
Commonwealth-related highlights from the start of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), also known as COP28.
At the opening ceremony on December 1, King Charles III spoke of the environmental damage he had seen across the Commonwealth and beyond. He said that people have been “taking the natural world into uncharted territory”. He stressed the need for private as well as public funding for the transformation needed and added that our grandchildren will not live with what we said but what we did. “The earth does not belong to us, we belong to the earth,” King Charles said.
Also speaking at the opening ceremony, the United Nations Secretary General spoke of the need to save the planet before it could “crash and burn”. He said that “support is far too little and far too late”.
Ahead of COP28, Commonwealth Secretary-General, the Rt Hon Patricia Scotland, spoke to CNN about the “make or break” nature of this summit.
On November 30, the business meetings of COP28 started with speeches from key officials.
During the first weekend of COP28, one of the best-known Commonwealth voices on the climate crisis, Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley, joined the discussions to talk about where more action will be needed at the global talks.
[Video: Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation, Barbados]
Follow events at the Commonwealth Pavilion in Dubai.
Read more from the Commonwealth Foundation on why COP28 is important.
Commonwealth Round Table will continue to monitor the Commonwealth input at COP28.
Related articles:
Global finance and climate change: Countdown to COP28
A “just” transition to green energy: The new Commonwealth challenge
Climate change, small states, inequality and development
The Round Table Journal special edition on climate change – 2021
