The climate summit in the United Arab Emirates kicked off today with an official opening at the conference center in Dubai. World leaders will deliver speeches a day later at a summit aimed at curbing global warming.

Follow the latest developments at the climate summit here.

The fund, which is supposed to help poor and vulnerable countries suffering damage from climate change, was officially adopted at a climate summit in Dubai. Last year, countries decided together that such a fund should be created, in what many called a “historic decision.” This year, a working group discussed what such a fund would look like. The conversation was very difficult.

The United Arab Emirates immediately announced its intention to contribute 100 million dollars (more than 91 million euros) to the fund. Germany also pledged $100 million. Britain wants to contribute 60 million pounds (more than 69 million euros) to a climate damage fund.

United States Climate Envoy John Kerry said he fully supports this fund. Last year at the COP, he only approved the climate damage fund plan after a long time. The state has pledged $17.5 million.

According to human rights organization ActionAid, this funding is a minimum amount. Agnes Schim van der Loeff emphasized that now is the time to actually fill these funds. “With climate disasters occurring year after year, the need for funding will continue to increase.” He asked the Netherlands to also make a contribution. The Netherlands has not announced whether the funds will be distributed to the fund. However, outgoing Minister Rob Jetten said it was “good news” that there was an agreement on a climate damage fund.

The world is taking action too slowly to combat global warming. With those words, Simon Stiell began his speech at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai on Thursday. He is chairman of the UN climate organization UNFCCC. He called the steps taken now “small steps”, while “we have to actually carry them out”.

“Humanity has experienced the hottest year in history,” he stressed at a news conference as the United Arab Emirates took over the presidency from Egypt, which chaired last year’s climate summit. “It is not enough to simply make efforts to combat climate change. We really have to do it.”

Outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte will speak at the COP28 climate summit on Friday. He was there in previous years too. US President Joe Biden is experiencing a decline. The United States’ special climate envoy, John Kerry, will attend the meeting, as will Britain’s King Charles and China’s Vice Premier, Ding Xuexiang. Pope Francis was also supposed to come, but had to cancel for health reasons.

Internationally, the situation is tense, partly caused by the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. Additionally, negotiations can be difficult in any case. In the initial discussion, countries that were previously classified as developing countries often had disagreements with rich countries such as America and countries in Europe.

For example, the United States and Europe believe that countries such as China and Saudi Arabia should contribute to new climate damage funds. They believe that these countries are now so developed and also contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. Ultimately, the deal is that developed countries will set up a climate damage fund and invest the money voluntarily. Countries that are classified as developing countries can also voluntarily invest their money in it.

By the way, this is a proposal from the working group. It still has to be officially adopted at the opening on Thursday. However, almost all countries have agreed to the proposal.

It is also a climate summit with the first so-called ‘global data collection’ since world leaders agreed in Paris in 2015 to limit temperature rises to 2 degrees and preferably 1.5 degrees. Countries can also adjust their climate plans based on this global evaluation.

Scientists from the UN’s IPCC panel, among others, have warned clearly in recent years that the world must do more to urgently reduce emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

According to the UN environmental agency, UNEP, with current policy plans, world temperatures will be 3 degrees warmer than before industrialization.