The world's biggest climate change conference COP28, kicked off in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Friday with conference President Dr Sultan Al Jaber saying "Hearing no objections, it is so decided," followed by the sound of the gavel hitting the table and applause erupting all around the room.
Day 2 of COP28 UAE started on Friday with kings, presidents, and prime ministers entering the gates of Expo City Dubai.
Over $420 million was pledged for the 'loss and damage' fund, within an hour of the decision, demonstrating the collective political will to support those most vulnerable to climate change.
The stage is set, and the world is waiting. Tune in to SAMAA Digital's coverage of the World Climate Action Summit.
'Pakistan faces climate change havoc'
Britain's King Charles III is praying that the UN's COP28 climate talks will be a "critical turning point" in the fight against global warming, he told world leaders in Dubai on Friday.
"I pray with all my heart that COP 28 will be another critical turning point towards genuine transformational action," King Charles told the World Climate Action Summit, held in parallel with COP28.
He said countries like Pakistan faced climate change havoc, urging the world to adopt green technology.
With 80,000 attendees, COP28 is largest UN climate summit ever
COP28 is officially the largest ever UN climate summit, with 80,000 participants registered on a list that -- for the first time -- shows who they work for.
Until this year, those taking part were not obliged to say who they worked for, making it tricky to detect lobbyists and identify negotiators' potential conflicts of interest.
Some 104,000 people, including technical and security staff, have access this year to the "blue zone" dedicated to the actual climate negotiations and the pavilions of the states and organisations present.
That largely exceeds the previous record at last year's UN climate summit in Egypt, COP27, which had 49,000 accredited attendees, and where oil and gas lobbyists outnumbered most national delegations, according to NGOs.
This year, there are nearly 23,500 people from official government teams.
Travelling with them are 27,208 policy experts, academics, representatives of professional organisations and senior company executives from oil giants.
These guests do not have the same degree of access to the negotiations as the official delegates, but their presence has raised concerns about the ability of big business to influence the talks.
Among the host country's guests are Bill Gates and Antoine Arnault, the son of LVMH boss Bernard Arnault, the second-richest man in the world after Elon Musk, according to Forbes magazine.
The accreditations list also includes more than 14,000 non-governmental organisations, ranging from environmental groups to industry lobbyists.
In June, UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres said fossil fuel companies must "cease and desist influence peddling and legal threats designed to kneecap progress" towards preventing the planet's climate spinning out of control.
And organisers say some 400,000 people have registered to get a day pass to the vast "green zone" around the talks on the site of the Dubai Expo 2020, which has been turned into a huge fair showcasing businesses and environmental innovation.
UAE launches new $30 billion climate investment fund at COP28
The United Arab Emirates said Friday it is launching a new $30 billion private investment fund focused on climate projects in developing countries.
The oil-rich host of the crunch United Nations COP28 climate negotiations in Dubai said it hopes the fund, called Alterra, will stimulate investments totalling $250 billion by 2030.
"I am pleased to announce the establishing of a $30 billion fund for global climate solutions," UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan told the summit.
COP28 president Sultan Al Jaber, who is also head of the UAE's national oil company ADNOC, will chair the board of the new fund, according to a statement.
It said the fund "will drive forward international efforts to create a fairer climate finance system, with an emphasis on improving access to funding for the Global South."
Emerging markets and developing economies, except China, will need to spend $2.4 trillion every year to address their climate and development needs, according to a UN economic expert panel, far above the current levels of investments.
The UAE initiative is seen as part of the country's broader strategy for COP28, pushing to involve the private sector while voluntarily pledging big sums.
Money has already been set aside to develop more than six gigawatts of clean energy capacity in India, including building wind and solar projects by 2025, the statement said.
Other projects in Africa and Latin America were also being explored, it added.
Asset managers BlackRock, Brookfield and TPG are launch partners of the fund, according to the statement.
The UAE sees itself as a bridge between the rich developed nations most responsible for historic emissions and the rest of the world, which has contributed less to global warming but suffers its worst consequences.
But the decision for it to host has attracted a firestorm of criticism -- particularly the appointment of ADNOC's Jaber to steer the talks.
