DUBAI: Britain's King Charles said on Friday the world was "dreadfully far off track" on addressing climate change and that the global economy would be in peril unless the environment was rapidly repaired.

In an opening address to the COP28 U.N. climate summit, King Charles told world leaders the dangers of climate change were no longer a distant risk, and urged them to take more action.

"I pray with all my heart that COP28 will be another critical turning point towards genuine transformational action," he said, in reference to the 2015 summit held in France.

"We are seeing alarming tipping points being reached."

After a year of record temperatures, the pressure is on for this year's summit to accelerate action to limit climate change.

Countries, however, are divided over the future of fossil fuel, the burning of which is the main cause of climate change.

“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,” said UN chief, Antonio Guterres.

United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed announced in the opening of the summit the establishment of a $30 billion climate fund for global climate solutions.

The fund is designed to bridge climate finance gap and aims to stimulate $250 billion of investment by 2030, he said.

The summit, which runs until Dec. 12, clinched an early victory on Thursday, with delegates adopting a new fund to help poor nations cope with costly climate disasters.