Dear Co-president, dear Honorary Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen.
We meet in Belém when science demands greater action, and we have no other tool than multilateralism to make sure that we deliver on it.
The European Union has renewed its ambition and submitted its 2035 NDC with a contribution of 66.3% to 72.5% emission reductions compared to 1990 levels.
And this reflects a truly credible path towards our net-zero goal by mid-century.
At home in the European Union, we have a yearslong track record of delivering real emission cuts across all sectors, while preparing our economies for the transition ahead.
Now here in Belém, we need to make sure we deliver several elements:
First, we need a collective response plan that helps us to close the gaps between where we are today and where we need to be.
We are going in the right direction absolutely, but we need to go there faster, and we need to go there together.
We must speed up the global energy transition by implementing the Global Stocktake: by producing more renewables, by boosting energy efficiency, and using all tools — including carbon pricing — while ensuring a just transition for everyone.
Secondly there is global resilience:
Adaptation and preparedness must be top priorities to protect communities, to protect ecosystems, and livelihoods. And I am truly proud of the work that has been done by the negotiators on adaptation indicators.
Third, all actors must work together to scale up financing for climate action in developing countries as was agreed; as was agreed last year in Baku.
And it is in this context we urgently need to improve access, in particular for LDCs and for the SIDS and for adaptation.
And to give you our numbers: the EU and its Member States are already major contributors. We have been providing EUR 31.8 billion in public finance and EUR 11 billion in mobilised private finance in 2024 and that was again a step up compared to the year before. And we continue to invite others who have the means to do so to join us in making sure to deliver on this endeavour.
Together with the European Investment Bank, we remain the largest provider of international public climate finance.
Fourth and finally, and the Vice-President of Brazil already has already mentioned it: carbon pricing. You all know the saying by Victor Hugo: ‘There is nothing so powerful as an idea for which the time has come.
And this is something we do need to pursue: pricing carbon is something we need to pursue with as many as possible as quickly as possible. Thank you very much.
