Ladies and gentlemen,
Let me start by stating the obvious.
We have a tremendous climate problem.
We need to bring emissions down. And we need to bring them down everywhere.
Climate change does not discriminate.
We need to do more and we need to do it all over the world.
If you look at Europe, we are setting ambitious goals and were doing the work from the ground.
We came to Belém with our new contribution to 2035, from 66.25 to 72.5%.
That shows that we are walking the talk.
And what we want to do here is make sure we work together with others to truly make sure we tackle this problem.
No matter the difficult geopolitics of the time, we are very much energised and look forward, Lars and myself, to reach a successful outcome.
But what is success at COP this year?
A couple of things are of huge importance.
We need to make sure that we speed up. Because indeed, the clean transition we are all in is unstoppable, its going in the right direction. The trend is the right one.
We are significantly outpacing the investment in fossil fuels if you look at how much we are doing in the domain of electrification.
Yet the speed needs to go up.
We are here to deliver exactly on that element with the negotiators.
Secondly, adaptation and the development of new adaptation indicators.
Climate finance, and making sure that we are making this as concrete as possible.
The just transition, which is hugely important all over the globe.
And a new gender action plan, which is truly something that involves everyone from everywhere.
That brings me to the second point.
This COP is about what is concretely being done on the ground. And making sure that we all do more.
Every five years, all parties have an obligation to set out the next steps in their decarbonisation journey.
Then, while our targets are of course ‘nationally determined, we need to check collectively, that is why we are here together, if we are doing enough to keep global warming in check.
And you know the answer to that: we are not. We do need to do more together.
Having said that, this is what success is to us.
Let me single out one additional point where we can only commend the Brazilian Presidency with the success that they have already embarked on.
And that is on the new declaration on Coalition on Compliance Carbon Markets for COP30.
Countries like Brazil, Mexico, Canada, Zambia and many others are now joining.
This truly is, as the Proverbial saying goes, there is nothing so powerful as an idea for which the time has come.
We have a lot to learn from each other and there is a lot of enthusiasm in getting this right.
We know from our own experience in Europe that one of the most effective things we can do is pricing carbon.
We are going to continue with that.
Finally, let me also commend the Brazilian presidency on the huge steps on forest protection: the TFFF and the Congo Basin Forest Declaration, to maintain the lungs of our earth.
These initiatives are giving a unique role to indigenous people to help them protect their environment as well.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The list goes on, but let me pause here.
We are here for results.
We acknowledge it is difficult.
We are doing our utmost to make sure we will deliver.
Thank you.
