Category: Africa Press Organisation – English

Source: United Nations – English

xcellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

You have every right to be angry, and I am too.

You are on the sharp end of a colossal injustice.

An injustice that sees the very future of your islands threatened by rising seas;

Your people pounded by record hurricanes;

Your economies torn apart.

And development gains left in tatters.

This is an injustice perpetrated by the few.

The G20 account for around eighty per cent of global emissions.

And it is an injustice that must end.

Your nations – the Small Island Developing States – are demonstrating what climate ambition looks like. You are the first responders.

The world must follow you. And it must support you.

First, by sparing no effort to keep 1.5 degrees alive.

That means global emissions falling nine per cent a year to 2030. And they are still rising.

It means phasing out fossil fuels – fast and fairly – and delivering on the COP28 outcome.

And it means every country putting forward new, economy-wide national climate action plans – or NDCs – by COP30, that align with 1.5 degrees.

The biggest emitters – the G20 – must lead.

And the United Nations is supporting countries to deliver through its Climate Promise initiative.

Second, justice.

You deserve support to deal with a crisis you have done next to nothing to create.

We must get serious about loss and damage.

The amount initially pledged is equivalent to the combined annual salaries of the 10 most well-paid footballers in the world. As I said, we must be serious about loos and damage.

We need significant contributions flowing to the Loss and Damage Fund – so it can have a meaningful impact and namely a meaningful impact in SIDS that sometimes are devastated by climate change.

We also need a surge in funds for you to protect your people from climate impacts; which are growing in strength and frequency.

Every one of you must have the chance to build resilience. And to seize the benefits of adaptation to drive progress across the Sustainable Development Goals.

Developed countries must honour their commitment to double adaptation finance to at least $40 billion a year by next year. This is an important step to closing the adaptation finance gap.

But it will not be enough. These measures can take us so only so far.

Ultimately, we need more fundamental reform.

And so, third: finance.

Your nations have faced a perfect storm of suffocating debt, high-capital costs, rising prices, and COVID-19 – which paralyzed many of your economies.

The result: scant funds for climate action or broader sustainable development.

The Pact for the Future – adopted by consensus in September in the General Assembly of the United Nations – made significant strides forward.

It calls for reform of the international financial architecture, including effective debt relief.

It commits countries to advancing an SDG Stimulus of $500 billion a year.
 
And it asks Multilateral Development Banks to look at ways to improve access to concessional finance for developing countries. And to consider structural vulnerability – including through using the Multidimensional Vulnerability Index. A middle-income country can have an enormous need of concessional funding because of its vulnerability and this cannot be forgotten.

It is essential that vulnerable middle-income countries can access funds. 

We must push for implementation of these commitments.

Starting here and now.

We need a new climate finance goal in COP29 that allows the mobilization of the trillions of dollars of finance developing countries need – with a significant increase in concessional public funds made now.

That goal must provide clarity on how money will be mobilized…

Tap innovative sources, such as levies on aviation, shipping and fossil fuel extraction…

And include an accessibility, transparency and accountability framework to build confidence that funds will be delivered and available.  

It must also include major capitalization boosts and reforms of the Multilateral Development Banks, including so they can leverage far more private finance at reasonable costs for the needs of SIDS.

I trust that you will be fully supporting the presidency to make sure that we have a successful COP29 with an ambitious new finance goal that can be at the same time taking into account the particular situation of Small Island Developing States.

At this COP and beyond. I urge you:

Use your moral authority to demand action. Demand leadership. And demand your justice.

Time is of the essence.

Together, you are helping us move from anger to action.

And, together, I know we can win.

Thank you.

Source: United Nations – English

irst of all, I want to thank South Africa and the European Union and our co-chairs for the extraordinary work that in a very limited amount of time they were able to produce and to say that we are totally committed to, in the context of all of the intergovernmental processes and initiatives we can take, to move forward with all your recommendations.

Thank you all for joining us today. 

We are here to respond to a key challenge: turning the energy transition towards justice.

The renewables revolution is powering forward. And critical minerals are at its core.

Last year – for the first time – the amount invested in grids and renewables overtook the amount spent on fossil fuels.

Demand for the minerals critical to the transition are expected to surge – as governments triple global renewables capacity by 2030 – as promised – and phase out fossil fuels.

For developing countries rich in those resources, this is a huge opportunity: to generate prosperity; eliminate poverty; and to drive sustainable development.

But too often this is not the case.

Too often we see the mistakes of the past repeated in a stampede of greed that crushes the poor.

We see a rush for resources, with communities exploited, rights trampled, and environments trashed; we see developing countries ground-down to the bottom of value chains, as others grow wealthy on their resources.

And the Panel was established in response to the calls from developing countries for action.

I thank all Panel members for their work and particularly the Co-Chairs, Nozipho Joyce Mxakato-Diseko and Ditte Juul Jørgensen.

The report identifies seven voluntary principles and five actionable recommendations to embed justice and equity across  critical mineral value chains.

These aim to empower communities, create accountability, and ensure that clean energy drives equitable and resilient growth. That includes advancing efforts to ensure maximum value is added in resource-rich developing countries.

The United Nations system is coming together to help implement the Panel’s findings.

We will work with Member States and other stakeholders to establish the recommended High-Level Expert Advisory Group.

This will accelerate action on key economic issues, including benefit sharing, value addition, and fair trade.

Developing countries will be in the driving seat.

And Indigenous Peoples, local communities, young people, civil society, industry, and trade unions will be at the table, alongside governments.

We will also take forward the recommended global traceability, transparency and accountability framework for the entire mineral value chain.

This will help to drive responsible production, safeguarding human rights and the environment.

I urge all leaders – in government, industry and civil society – to join us.

And I look forward to hearing from you today on your plans to implement the Panel’s findings.

As demand for critical energy transition minerals surges, so must action.

Together, let us turn the transition towards justice and equity.

Thank you.
 

Source: United Nations – English

xcellencies, friends,

It is a pleasure to join you.

You are a diverse group, united by a shared goal: ambition.

Nine years ago, you played a key role in the adoption of the Paris Agreement.

Today, we need your unity and resolve more than ever.  To prove that Agreement is working.

The next five years will be decisive.

And the next twelve months must get us on the right path…

To reduce emissions nine percent every year to the end of this decade to keep 1.5 alive…

To accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels…

To unlock finance, fund loss and damage, and boost adaptation.

Excellencies,

We are seeing glimmers of progress.

When the Paris Agreement was adopted, we were heading for a four degree temperature rise.
Today’s policies are taking us closer to three degrees.

We have a new Loss and Damage Fund. And agreements to boost adaptation financing.

The economics will continue propelling us towards a clean future.

No government and no business can stop that.

But we must move much faster.

And we must ensure the green transition reduces inequalities – within and between nations. 

We need this Coalition to keep pushing for a high ambition outcome – here in Baku and beyond.

We need every country to prepare and submit ambitious new national climate action plans – or NDCs – by COP30 next year, as promised.

These must align with 1.5 degrees, contribute to the COP28 commitments, and put the world on course to phase out fossil fuels fast and fairly.

The biggest emitters – the G20 countries – must lead.  

And we need your influence and example:

To ensure developed countries deliver on their promise to double adaptation finance…

To ensure the Loss and Damage Fund has the resources it needs… 

And to secure an ambitious new finance goal here at COP29 – a goal that mobilises the trillion of dollars developing countries need.

This starts with a significant increase in concessional public finance – along with clarity on how to mobilise far greater sums.

The goal must also tap innovative sources – such as solidarity levies in areas such as aviation, shipping and fossil fuel extraction.
And it must include a transparency and accountability framework to build confidence that funds will be delivered and accessible.

It must also advance efforts to drastically increase the lending capacity of the Multilateral Development Banks.

That requires a major recapitalisation.  And it requires reforms of their business models so that they can leverage far more private finance. 

Excellencies,

Now is the time for ambition and action.

Together, let’s push this process to deliver.

Thank you.
 

Source: United Nations – English

thank you, President Aliyev, the COP President, Mukhtar Babayev, and the Government of Azerbaijan for your welcome and hospitality.

The President can count on our full cooperation in your efforts to achieve the successful COP we all need.

Excellencies and friends,

The sound you hear is the ticking clock. 

We are in the final countdown to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

And time is not on our side.

Exhibit A: 2024.

With the hottest day on record …the hottest months on record …this is almost certain to be the hottest year on record.

And a masterclass in climate destruction:

Families running for their lives before the next hurricane strikes;

Biodiversity destroyed in sweltering seas;

Workers and pilgrims collapsing in insufferable heat; 

Floods tearing through communities, and tearing down infrastructure;

Children going to bed hungry as droughts ravage crops;

And all these disasters, and more, are being supercharged by human-made climate change. 

And no country is spared.

In our global economy, supply chain shocks raise costs – everywhere.

Decimated harvests push up food prices – everywhere.

Destroyed homes increase insurance premiums – everywhere.

This is a story of avoidable injustice.

The rich cause the problem, the poor pay the highest price.

Oxfam finds the richest billionaires emit more carbon in an hour and a half than the average person does in a lifetime.

Now, unless emissions plummet and adaptation soars, every economy will face far greater fury.

But there is every reason to hope.

Excellencies,

At COP28, all of you agreed to move away from fossil fuels;

To accelerate net zero energy systems, setting milestones to get there;

To boost climate adaptation;

And to align the next round of economy-wide national climate plans – or NDCs – with the 1.5-degree limit.

It’s time to deliver.

Humanity is behind you: a poll by the University of Oxford and the United Nations Development Programme finds that – globally – eighty percent of people around the world want more climate action.

Scientists, activists, and young people are demanding change – they must be heard, not silenced.

And the economic imperative is clearer and more compelling with every renewables roll out, every innovation, and every price drop.

Last year – and for the first time – the amount invested in greens and renewables overtook the amount spent on fossil fuels.  And almost everywhere, solar and wind are the cheapest sources of electricity.

So doubling down on fossil fuels is absurd. 

The clean energy revolution is here. No group, no business, and no government can stop it.  

But you can and must ensure it is fair, and fast enough to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

And I urge you to focus on three priorities.

First, emergency emissions reductions.

To limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, we must cut global emissions nine per cent every year – by 2030 they must be down 43 per cent on 2019 levels. Unfortunately, they are still growing at the present moment.

Now at this COP, you must agree to rules for fair, effective carbon markets that support that fight;

Yesterday, you made an important first step. You must build on it by agreeing rules for markets that respect the rights of local communities, and leave no space for greenwashing or land-grabbing.

By next COP, you must deliver new economy-wide national climate action plans.

And you’ve agreed that your new plans will align with 1.5 degrees.

That means they must cover all emissions and the whole economy;

Advance global goals to triple renewables capacity, double energy efficiency, and halt deforestation by 2030;

To slash global fossil fuel production and consumption thirty per cent by the same date;

And to align national energy transition strategies and sustainable development priorities with climate action – to attract the needed investment.

All this must be achieved in line with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities in the light of different national circumstances.

But all countries must do their part.

And the G20 must lead. 

They are the largest emitters, with the greatest capacities and responsibilities.

They must bring their technological know-how together – with developed countries supporting emerging economies.
 
And every nation must have the tools and resources for climate action.

And the United Nations is ready to support that effort every step of the way:  

We are supporting developing countries with new NDCs through the Climate Promise initiative;

And striving for justice in the renewables revolution through our Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals.

But ultimately, only you can deliver, on national ambition and action.

Only you can beat the clock on 1.5 degrees.

Excellencies,

Second, you must do more to protect your people from the ravages of the climate crisis.

The most vulnerable are being abandoned to climate extremes.

The gap between adaptation needs and finance could reach up to $359 billion a year by 2030.

These missing dollars are not abstractions on a balance sheet: they are lives taken, harvests lost, and development denied. 

Now more than ever finance promises must be kept. Developed countries must race the clock to double adaptation finance to at least $40 billion a year by 2025.

Adaptation investments can transform economies, driving progress across the Sustainable Development Goals.

We need countries’ new climate action plans to set out adaptation financing needs.

We need every person on earth to be protected by an alert system by 2027, in line with our Early Warnings for All initiative.

And we need climate justice.

Particularly, a surge in pledges to the new Loss and Damage Fund, and commitments turning into cash – with finance pouring into the Fund’s coffers.

But we also need a fundamental step change across the board.

And so, Excellencies,

The third priority is finance.

Developing countries eager to act are facing many obstacles: scant public finance; raging cost of capital; crushing climate disasters; and debt servicing that soaks up funds.

The result: adaptation denied. And a tale of two transitions.

Last year, developing and emerging markets outside China received just fifteen cents for every dollar invested in clean energy globally.

COP29 must tear down the walls of climate finance.

Developing countries must not leave Baku empty-handed. A deal is a must and I’m confident it will be reached.

We need a new finance goal that meets the moment.

Five elements are critical to success. 

First, a significant increase in concessional public finance.

Second, a clear indication of how these public funds will mobilise the trillions of dollars developing countries need. 

Third, tapping innovative sources, particularly levies on shipping, aviation, and fossil fuel extraction based on the principle that polluters must pay.

Fourth, a framework for greater accessibility, transparency, and accountability – giving developing countries confidence that the money will materialise.

Fifth, boosting lending capacity for bigger and bolder Multilateral Development Banks – and I hope some good news will come – that requires a major recapitalisation. And reforms of their business models so that they can leverage far more private finance. 

The resources available may seem insufficient. But they can be multiplied with a meaningful change in how the multilateral system works.

Big sums require big change.

The COP29 outcome must build on the Pact for the Future – agreed by consensus in New York in September – and drive progress.

And I urge the major MDB shareholders to use your position to push for change. 

There is no time to lose.

On climate finance, the world must pay up, or humanity will pay the price.

Excellencies,

In this crucial period, you and your governments must be guided by a clear truth:

Climate finance is not charity, it’s an investment.

Climate action is not optional, it’s an imperative.

Both are indispensable: to a liveable world for all humanity. And a prosperous future for every nation on Earth.

The clock is ticking. I count on you.

Thank you.

Source: United Nations – English

xcellencies and friends,

It is a pleasure to join you today and I thank Kenya for bringing us together, and for his leadership.

Africa’s desire for renewables is clear.

We see it in the text of the Nairobi Declaration.

And we see it on the ground, in the extraordinary projects developed across the continent.

You know that clean energy can power prosperity and sustainable development from Cairo to Cape Town;

That renewables can drive industrialisation, and economic growth. And that it can revolutionise lives – bringing affordable power to people for the first time.

And you know the benefits do not stop there: better health, reliable access, and lower costs all come along with clean power.  

But we need action to release the full potential of African renewables.

Excellencies,

First, we need policies.

All countries must produce new, economy-wide national climate action plans – or NDCs – by next year.

These must align with limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. And they must contribute to the global energy transition goals agreed at COP28.

The G20 countries are the biggest emitters with the biggest responsibilities. They must lead these efforts, and a just, global fossil fuel phase-out.

But all countries must step-up – and seize this opportunity.

New NDCs are a chance to align national energy transition strategies and sustainable development priorities with climate action – to attract needed investment.

The United Nations is here to support African countries through the Climate Promise initiative.

Second, we need finance.

Many of your countries face sky-high borrowing costs, runaway debt, and inadequate climate finance and investment.

The result: adaptation denied; your clean energy revolution held back.

Despite being home to 60 per cent of the world’s best solar resources, Africa has only around one per cent of installed solar capacity.

And around 600 million people on your continent do not have access to electricity.

The Pact for the Future contains clear, ambitious commitments on reform of the international financial architecture, and action on debt.

We must push to ensure these commitments become reality. 

And we need agreement here in Baku on a new financial goal. This must provide:
 
A significant increase in public finance;

Clarity on mobilizing the trillions of dollars that are needed, of course, with the involvement of all actors;

Tapping of innovative sources – such as solidarity levies on shipping, aviation and fossil fuel extraction;

An accessibility, transparency and accountability framework – so you can have confidence funds will be delivered;

And a major capitalization boost and reforms of the Multilateral Development Banks to increase their lending capacity for concessional funds, and to leverage far more private finance.

Excellencies,

Third, critical minerals.

Africa is home to almost a third of the minerals critical to the renewables revolution.

These extraordinary resources could help to power prosperity across the continent.

But too often, your countries are bound to the bottom of value chains.

Too often we see a scramble for African resources, that exploits your people, tramples their rights, and ruins your nature.

We need a fundamental shift. So that you can move away from supplying raw materials and diversify your economies. 

We established the United Nations Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals to help embed justice, fairness, sustainability and human rights across the critical minerals value chain.

We must push all parties to put its findings into action – including ensuring maximum value is produced in Africa.

Excellencies,

Meanwhile, we must address the intolerable injustice your countries face. To help protect your economies – and your people – from devastating climate impacts.

Despite minimal emissions, the climate crisis is hitting your continent hard. Pummelling your people and pounding your economies.

We urgently need developed countries to honour their commitment to double finance for adaptation to at least $40 billion a year by 2025.

And we need meaningful contributions to the new Loss and Damage Fund. And to ensure it is a destination for innovative finance. 

Excellencies,

Africa can become a green energy powerhouse – driving industrialization and prosperity for your people.

So let’s work together to make that a reality.

Let’s drive this agenda through COP29, the next Africa Climate Summit, and beyond.

And let’s see Africa where it belongs: at the forefront of the renewables revolution.

Thank you.
 

Source: United Nations – English

xcellencies, Friends,

It is a pleasure to join you today. And I thank the COP Presidency for bringing us together.

The gains many of you have helped to secure on loss and damage must not themselves be lost.

Our world is getting hotter and more dangerous.

And this is not a matter for debate.

It is a matter of fact.

We’ve just had the hottest day, the hottest months, the hottest years, and the hottest decade in the history books. 

Climate disasters are piling up – harming those who’ve done the least, the most.

We see economies wrecked, lives taken, livelihoods lost, and development denied.

And meanwhile, those that contribute more to the destruction – particularly the fossil fuel industry – continue to reap massive profits and subsidies.

The creation of the Loss and Damage Fund is a victory for developing countries, for multilateralism, and for justice.

But its initial capitalization of $700 million doesn’t come close to righting the wrong inflicted on the vulnerable. 

$700 million is roughly the annual earnings of the world’s ten best-paid footballers.

It does not even account for a quarter of the damage in Viet Nam caused by Hurricane Yagi in September.

We must get serious about the level of finance required.

I urge countries to commit new finance to the Fund. And to write checks to match. 

But bilateral flows alone won’t suffice.

We need new responses, and new sources, to meet the scale of need.

I urge countries to agree a new climate finance goal that taps innovative sources.

We need to implement solidarity levies on sectors such as shipping, aviation, and fossil fuel extraction – to help fund climate action.

We need a fair price on carbon.

And, more broadly, we also need to support Multilateral Development Banks in order to increase the lending capacity so they are fit to respond to the climate crisis.

Excellencies,

In an era of climate extremes, loss and damage finance is a must.  

I urge governments to deliver.

In the name of justice.

Thank you.
 

Source: United Nations – English

xcellencies and friends,

It is a pleasure to join you today and I thank Kenya for bringing us together, and for his leadership.

Africa’s desire for renewables is clear.

We see it in the text of the Nairobi Declaration.

And we see it on the ground, in the extraordinary projects developed across the continent.

You know that clean energy can power prosperity and sustainable development from Cairo to Cape Town;

That renewables can drive industrialisation, and economic growth. And that it can revolutionise lives – bringing affordable power to people for the first time.

And you know the benefits do not stop there: better health, reliable access, and lower costs all come along with clean power.  

But we need action to release the full potential of African renewables.

Excellencies,

First, we need policies.

All countries must produce new, economy-wide national climate action plans – or NDCs – by next year.

These must align with limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. And they must contribute to the global energy transition goals agreed at COP28.

The G20 countries are the biggest emitters with the biggest responsibilities. They must lead these efforts, and a just, global fossil fuel phase-out.

But all countries must step-up – and seize this opportunity.

New NDCs are a chance to align national energy transition strategies and sustainable development priorities with climate action – to attract needed investment.

The United Nations is here to support African countries through the Climate Promise initiative.

Second, we need finance.

Many of your countries face sky-high borrowing costs, runaway debt, and inadequate climate finance and investment.

The result: adaptation denied; your clean energy revolution held back.

Despite being home to 60 per cent of the world’s best solar resources, Africa has only around one per cent of installed solar capacity.

And around 600 million people on your continent do not have access to electricity.

The Pact for the Future contains clear, ambitious commitments on reform of the international financial architecture, and action on debt.

We must push to ensure these commitments become reality. 

And we need agreement here in Baku on a new financial goal. This must provide:
 
A significant increase in public finance;

Clarity on mobilizing the trillions of dollars that are needed, of course, with the involvement of all actors;

Tapping of innovative sources – such as solidarity levies on shipping, aviation and fossil fuel extraction;

An accessibility, transparency and accountability framework – so you can have confidence funds will be delivered;

And a major capitalization boost and reforms of the Multilateral Development Banks to increase their lending capacity for concessional funds, and to leverage far more private finance.

Excellencies,

Third, critical minerals.

Africa is home to almost a third of the minerals critical to the renewables revolution.

These extraordinary resources could help to power prosperity across the continent.

But too often, your countries are bound to the bottom of value chains.

Too often we see a scramble for African resources, that exploits your people, tramples their rights, and ruins your nature.

We need a fundamental shift. So that you can move away from supplying raw materials and diversify your economies. 

We established the United Nations Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals to help embed justice, fairness, sustainability and human rights across the critical minerals value chain.

We must push all parties to put its findings into action – including ensuring maximum value is produced in Africa.

Excellencies,

Meanwhile, we must address the intolerable injustice your countries face. To help protect your economies – and your people – from devastating climate impacts.

Despite minimal emissions, the climate crisis is hitting your continent hard. Pummelling your people and pounding your economies.

We urgently need developed countries to honour their commitment to double finance for adaptation to at least $40 billion a year by 2025.

And we need meaningful contributions to the new Loss and Damage Fund. And to ensure it is a destination for innovative finance. 

Excellencies,

Africa can become a green energy powerhouse – driving industrialization and prosperity for your people.

So let’s work together to make that a reality.

Let’s drive this agenda through COP29, the next Africa Climate Summit, and beyond.

And let’s see Africa where it belongs: at the forefront of the renewables revolution.

Thank you.
 

Source: United Nations – English

xcellencies, Friends,

It is a pleasure to join you today. And I thank the COP Presidency for bringing us together.

The gains many of you have helped to secure on loss and damage must not themselves be lost.

Our world is getting hotter and more dangerous.

And this is not a matter for debate.

It is a matter of fact.

We’ve just had the hottest day, the hottest months, the hottest years, and the hottest decade in the history books. 

Climate disasters are piling up – harming those who’ve done the least, the most.

We see economies wrecked, lives taken, livelihoods lost, and development denied.

And meanwhile, those that contribute more to the destruction – particularly the fossil fuel industry – continue to reap massive profits and subsidies.

The creation of the Loss and Damage Fund is a victory for developing countries, for multilateralism, and for justice.

But its initial capitalization of $700 million doesn’t come close to righting the wrong inflicted on the vulnerable. 

$700 million is roughly the annual earnings of the world’s ten best-paid footballers.

It does not even account for a quarter of the damage in Viet Nam caused by Hurricane Yagi in September.

We must get serious about the level of finance required.

I urge countries to commit new finance to the Fund. And to write checks to match. 

But bilateral flows alone won’t suffice.

We need new responses, and new sources, to meet the scale of need.

I urge countries to agree a new climate finance goal that taps innovative sources.

We need to implement solidarity levies on sectors such as shipping, aviation, and fossil fuel extraction – to help fund climate action.

We need a fair price on carbon.

And, more broadly, we also need to support Multilateral Development Banks in order to increase the lending capacity so they are fit to respond to the climate crisis.

Excellencies,

In an era of climate extremes, loss and damage finance is a must.  

I urge governments to deliver.

In the name of justice.

Thank you.
 

Source: United Nations – English

thank you, President Aliyev, the COP President, Mukhtar Babayev, and the Government of Azerbaijan for your welcome and hospitality.

The President can count on our full cooperation in your efforts to achieve the successful COP we all need.

Excellencies and friends,

The sound you hear is the ticking clock. 

We are in the final countdown to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

And time is not on our side.

Exhibit A: 2024.

With the hottest day on record …the hottest months on record …this is almost certain to be the hottest year on record.

And a masterclass in climate destruction:

Families running for their lives before the next hurricane strikes;

Biodiversity destroyed in sweltering seas;

Workers and pilgrims collapsing in insufferable heat; 

Floods tearing through communities, and tearing down infrastructure;

Children going to bed hungry as droughts ravage crops;

And all these disasters, and more, are being supercharged by human-made climate change. 

And no country is spared.

In our global economy, supply chain shocks raise costs – everywhere.

Decimated harvests push up food prices – everywhere.

Destroyed homes increase insurance premiums – everywhere.

This is a story of avoidable injustice.

The rich cause the problem, the poor pay the highest price.

Oxfam finds the richest billionaires emit more carbon in an hour and a half than the average person does in a lifetime.

Now, unless emissions plummet and adaptation soars, every economy will face far greater fury.

But there is every reason to hope.

Excellencies,

At COP28, all of you agreed to move away from fossil fuels;

To accelerate net zero energy systems, setting milestones to get there;

To boost climate adaptation;

And to align the next round of economy-wide national climate plans – or NDCs – with the 1.5-degree limit.

It’s time to deliver.

Humanity is behind you: a poll by the University of Oxford and the United Nations Development Programme finds that – globally – eighty percent of people around the world want more climate action.

Scientists, activists, and young people are demanding change – they must be heard, not silenced.

And the economic imperative is clearer and more compelling with every renewables roll out, every innovation, and every price drop.

Last year – and for the first time – the amount invested in greens and renewables overtook the amount spent on fossil fuels.  And almost everywhere, solar and wind are the cheapest sources of electricity.

So doubling down on fossil fuels is absurd. 

The clean energy revolution is here. No group, no business, and no government can stop it.  

But you can and must ensure it is fair, and fast enough to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

And I urge you to focus on three priorities.

First, emergency emissions reductions.

To limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, we must cut global emissions nine per cent every year – by 2030 they must be down 43 per cent on 2019 levels. Unfortunately, they are still growing at the present moment.

Now at this COP, you must agree to rules for fair, effective carbon markets that support that fight;

Yesterday, you made an important first step. You must build on it by agreeing rules for markets that respect the rights of local communities, and leave no space for greenwashing or land-grabbing.

By next COP, you must deliver new economy-wide national climate action plans.

And you’ve agreed that your new plans will align with 1.5 degrees.

That means they must cover all emissions and the whole economy;

Advance global goals to triple renewables capacity, double energy efficiency, and halt deforestation by 2030;

To slash global fossil fuel production and consumption thirty per cent by the same date;

And to align national energy transition strategies and sustainable development priorities with climate action – to attract the needed investment.

All this must be achieved in line with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities in the light of different national circumstances.

But all countries must do their part.

And the G20 must lead. 

They are the largest emitters, with the greatest capacities and responsibilities.

They must bring their technological know-how together – with developed countries supporting emerging economies.
 
And every nation must have the tools and resources for climate action.

And the United Nations is ready to support that effort every step of the way:  

We are supporting developing countries with new NDCs through the Climate Promise initiative;

And striving for justice in the renewables revolution through our Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals.

But ultimately, only you can deliver, on national ambition and action.

Only you can beat the clock on 1.5 degrees.

Excellencies,

Second, you must do more to protect your people from the ravages of the climate crisis.

The most vulnerable are being abandoned to climate extremes.

The gap between adaptation needs and finance could reach up to $359 billion a year by 2030.

These missing dollars are not abstractions on a balance sheet: they are lives taken, harvests lost, and development denied. 

Now more than ever finance promises must be kept. Developed countries must race the clock to double adaptation finance to at least $40 billion a year by 2025.

Adaptation investments can transform economies, driving progress across the Sustainable Development Goals.

We need countries’ new climate action plans to set out adaptation financing needs.

We need every person on earth to be protected by an alert system by 2027, in line with our Early Warnings for All initiative.

And we need climate justice.

Particularly, a surge in pledges to the new Loss and Damage Fund, and commitments turning into cash – with finance pouring into the Fund’s coffers.

But we also need a fundamental step change across the board.

And so, Excellencies,

The third priority is finance.

Developing countries eager to act are facing many obstacles: scant public finance; raging cost of capital; crushing climate disasters; and debt servicing that soaks up funds.

The result: adaptation denied. And a tale of two transitions.

Last year, developing and emerging markets outside China received just fifteen cents for every dollar invested in clean energy globally.

COP29 must tear down the walls of climate finance.

Developing countries must not leave Baku empty-handed. A deal is a must and I’m confident it will be reached.

We need a new finance goal that meets the moment.

Five elements are critical to success. 

First, a significant increase in concessional public finance.

Second, a clear indication of how these public funds will mobilise the trillions of dollars developing countries need. 

Third, tapping innovative sources, particularly levies on shipping, aviation, and fossil fuel extraction based on the principle that polluters must pay.

Fourth, a framework for greater accessibility, transparency, and accountability – giving developing countries confidence that the money will materialise.

Fifth, boosting lending capacity for bigger and bolder Multilateral Development Banks – and I hope some good news will come – that requires a major recapitalisation. And reforms of their business models so that they can leverage far more private finance. 

The resources available may seem insufficient. But they can be multiplied with a meaningful change in how the multilateral system works.

Big sums require big change.

The COP29 outcome must build on the Pact for the Future – agreed by consensus in New York in September – and drive progress.

And I urge the major MDB shareholders to use your position to push for change. 

There is no time to lose.

On climate finance, the world must pay up, or humanity will pay the price.

Excellencies,

In this crucial period, you and your governments must be guided by a clear truth:

Climate finance is not charity, it’s an investment.

Climate action is not optional, it’s an imperative.

Both are indispensable: to a liveable world for all humanity. And a prosperous future for every nation on Earth.

The clock is ticking. I count on you.

Thank you.

Source: United Nations – English

strong>Download the video: https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/downloads2.unmultimedia.org/public/video/evergreen/MSG+SG+/SG+1+Nov+24/3298328_MSG+SG+WATER+CEREMONY+AUSTRIA+01+NOV+24.mp4
VIDEO MESSAGE TO THE PRINCE SULTAN BIN ABDULAZIZ INTERNATIONAL PRIZE FOR WATER CEREMONY

I extend warm greetings to the ceremony for the 11th Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water.

Water is life.

Yet billions of people struggle without safe drinking water, sanitation services or basic hygiene facilities.

Around the world, water scarcity is on the rise.

And people and communities are paying the price. 

Economies are weakened.

Food, energy and health systems suffer.

And gender equality and social cohesion are undermined.

The recently adopted Pact for the Future calls for solutions rooted in science, technology and innovation.

And this Prize responds to that call.

It shines a light on bold thinkers and ideas.

Congratulations to this year’s inspirational prize winners.

Your contributions will help advance a just, equitable and sustainable world for all.

Thank you.