World leaders are set to take the stage for a second day at the UN climate summit in Dubai on Saturday, as their governments lined up a slew of new pledges around green energy.
Among the headliners expected to speak at COP28 are US Vice President Kamala Harris, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, whose video address had originally been scheduled for Friday.
Governments also are poised to announce a promise to triple renewable energy capacity, boost nuclear energy capacity and rein in emissions of methane.
Friday's first day at the summit highlighted tensions between the United Nations, whose secretary general urged leaders to commit to quitting fossil fuels, and the COP28's UAE hosts, who have urged cooperation with oil companies.
World leaders focused on the scale and imminent threat of climate change and the drastic action needed to curtail global warming before it becomes an even worse catastrophe.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres took aim at fossil fuels. That industry is in the spotlight at these talks.
COP28 is hosted in the oil-rich United Arab Emirates and the conference president, Sultan al-Jaber, also heads Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.
Saving the planet from climate change and keeping warming within the Paris Agreement's goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) means eliminating oil and gas use, Guterres said.
“Not reduce, not abate. Phase out,” Guterres said.
The sickness of climate change is something only the world's leaders can cure, he said.
“We are miles from the goals of the Paris agreement and minutes to midnight for the 1.5 degree limit, but it is not too late,” the secretary-general said. “We can — you can — prevent planetary crash and burn.”
Some leaders also used their podium time to criticise Israel's war in Gaza.
"Let’s be inclusive of the most vulnerable Palestinians severely impacted by the war," Jordan’s King Abdullah said.
Guterres told other leaders that the consequences of climate change were dire and action was needed to prevent the environment from crashing, but also said, “Conflicts are causing immense suffering and intense emotion.”
Those comments came as the conflict's weeklong cease-fire ended.
Israel resumed its relentless bombing of Gaza, killing over 175 poeple and wounding over 589 on Friday.
Jordan's King Abdullah raised the plight of “vulnerable Palestinians” and an environmental group had handbills reading: “Cease-fire Now.”
Israel President Isaac Herzog didn't give a speech at the summit, although he had been on the schedule. And Iran’s delegation left Friday's proceedings to show its protest against the presence of Israeli officials, state-run IRNA news agency reported.