King Charles urges COP31 delegates to act on climate pledges
The British monarch said future generations will judge leaders by their actions rather than their promises, and he called for faster climate finance.
Britain's King Charles III urged world leaders at the COP31 climate summit in Türkiye on Thursday to turn their climate pledges into real action, Turkey's state-run news agency Anadolu Agency reported.
In a message to delegates in Antalya, the king said future generations would judge leaders by what they do rather than what they promise.
He stressed the urgency of cutting emissions, shifting to clean energy and protecting nature, and said, "climate change is not a distant threat but a present and growing reality."
The king thanked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish government and the Turkish people for bringing the international community together.
He called for urgent steps to eliminate unnecessary methane emissions and leaks from the oil and gas sector by 2030, describing this as one of the fastest available ways to slow near-term warming.
He also called for faster renewable energy deployment, the protection of forests and oceans, the restoration of ecosystems and stronger resilience among vulnerable communities.
On climate finance, he said governments, businesses, investors, institutions and philanthropic organizations must work together to raise the capital needed for a sustainable future.
"None of this can be achieved without finance on the scale required," he said, pointing to public-private partnerships and innovative financing models.
The UN climate conference, known as COP, is an annual meeting where governments negotiate their responses to global warming.
This year's summit is being held in Antalya, where delegates are discussing how to put existing commitments into practice.
