Ladies and gentlemen,

Very good to see you.

As you have experienced, we did not want to rush it.

I also Lars want to thank you wholeheartedly and your team, everyone in the Commission and all the Member States who have shown a huge degree of cooperation and flexibility.

This is a Union where it does take 27 to tango and we did manage to deliver on that.

What I have said over and over again in the conversations with many of you is that this was a three-step rocket. We were going to have a first discussion before we walked into New York, UNGA on the range. Then the guidance of the leaders, and then we would conclude at the ENVI Council of yesterday. This is the process we have followed.

I am convinced that the result – both on the NDC and on 20940 target - is excellent.

As always in politics, the road is never a straight line, neither in national nor in European politics in my experience.

Let me take a step back.

Leaders have already reaffirmed their strong commitment to staying the course on the climate and environmental goals and harnessing the full potential of the industrial renewal that has to come with it.

That is what we have done today.

It is a deal that is pragmatic, ambitious, delivers speed and flexibility.

What we need to make sure – and that is at the heart of it -climate, competitiveness and independence need to go hand in hand. All three are essential. But going forward we need to make sure all of those and not one at the expense of the other.

 

That is what Europe needs going forward.

Climate action because this new 2040 target sets the next milestone towards climate neutrality. It also provides the investment horizons our industry needs.

That is the other thing that many have been asking, particularly from businesses: please give us predictability, the true north so we know what we can count on.

Competitiveness because we want Europes climate leadership also to pay off for our economy. This in the end is about clean tech.

And independence because we need more and advance the clean transition because it will make us less  dependent on others, including dubious regimes on whom we still unfortunately rely.

 

We listened and work with all parties around the table that brought us to a very good compromise.

We have agreed to a legally binding headline 2040 target of 90% with a domestic target of 85% and up to 5% of international carbon credits.

We have reaffirmed the flexibilities that we put on the table. As I am sure we have seen, we are also postponing the ETS2 by 1 year and adopting measures on the ETS2 implementation framework to smoothen the launch of it.  

We also have upheld our commitment, hugely important coming to Belém with an ambitious NDC.

Again, it is exactly the range we aimed for between 66.25 and 72.5

My experience with the various conversations I had is that the ask is that the EU formalises this fantastic range and that is what we have done.

Many thanks to everyone and for your patience.

We are very glad to be here.