Statement by President von der Leyen at the COP27 plenary meeting

In February, in the same week that Russia invaded Ukraine, the IPCC issued a stark warning to the global community. Its message could not have been clearer: the climate is changing faster than our capacity to adapt. So the world must deliver better and faster. The global fossil fuel crisis must be a game changer. And my friends, let us not take the highway to hell; let us earn the clean ticket to heaven. That is our responsibility.

For Europe, the answer is REPowerEU. We are not just cutting our dependency on Russian fossil fuels – that is good, but that is not enough – but we are massively accelerating the roll-out of renewables. The European Union’s additional renewable capacity is set to more than double this year, up to 50 gigawatts. And if we accelerate and if we scale up – and that is our plan – we can, in the next year, meet a new all-time record of over 100 gigawatts of additional renewable capacity. Because we know that every kilowatt-hour of electricity that we generate from renewable sources – like solar and wind, and green hydrogen – is not only good for our climate, but also good for our independence and our security of supply.

Here, the Global South has the resources in abundance. So let us team up. That is why the European Union is signing new hydrogen partnerships with Egypt, with Namibia and with Kazakhstan. That is why we are supporting partners such as Vietnam and South Africa to decarbonise their economies. We need to reach the Paris goal. And Europe is staying the course.

We will reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% until 2030. And that is cast in law. With our Fit for 55 Package, we are putting in place the most ambitious legal framework worldwide. And we call on all major emitters to increase their ambitions, too.

In addition, we need tangible progress on our global goal for adaptation. Those most in need, in the developing world, must be supported in adapting to a harsher climate. This is also why this COP must make progress on averting, minimising and addressing loss and damage from climate change. It is high time to put this on the agenda.

Finally, we urge our partners in the Global North to step up their climate finance to the Global South. Team Europe is providing its fair share of the USD 100 billion promise. For the second year in a row, we have exceeded EUR 23 billion – despite the COVID-19 pandemic, despite the Russian war. And a big bulk of our climate finance goes already to adaptation. So it is doable and we call on others to step up, too.

My message to you today is: Europe is staying the course. So let us do this journey together.

Thank you so much.

Watch President von der Leyen’s statement here

Compliments of the European Commission.