DUBAI, Dec 1, 2023 (BSS/AFP) - 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 COP28 will be another critical turning point towards genuine transformational action," he told the World Climate Action Summit, held in parallel with COP28.

"It worries me greatly that we remain so dreadfully far off track," the king added, after the UN's first official progress report in September found that the world remained dangerously off course.

The talks in Dubai come at a pivotal moment for the planet, with emissions still rising and the UN on Thursday declaring 2023 on track to become the hottest year in human history.

"In your hands is an unmissable opportunity to keep our common hope alive," said the British monarch, wearing a light suit with pink shirt and blue tie.

The lifelong environmentalist spoke at COP26 in Scotland in 2021 but did not attend the last conference in Egypt, reportedly because of objections by the UK prime minister at the time, Liz Truss.