Remarks by Executive Vice-President Ribera and Commissioners Hoekstra and Jørgensen at the press conference on an EU global climate and energy vision

Executive Vice-President Ribera's remarks

 

Good afternoon.

Allow me to start with a sentence you may remember. Ban Ki Moon talked about the planet, prosperity and people when referring to the sustainable development goals.

If you add peace you could identify the key references that explain why counting on a global vision for energy and climate matters.

Around the world, billions of people still lack what many of us take for granted here in Europe.

Over 2.2 billion people have no access to safe drinking water, 3.4 billion live without proper sanitation, nearly 750 million people remain without electricity and more than 1.8 billion people live in areas exposed to severe flooding. The world produces over 2 billion tonnes of waste each year.

These figures show that many regions still lack the most basic infrastructure: reliable power grids, clean water systems, sewer networks, and waste collection services.

Behind these numbers the truth is quite simple: without clean water, reliable energy and resilient infrastructure, there can be no security, no prosperity, and no sustainable future.

Without a consistent vision on climate action and energy we cannot guarantee prosperity and peace.

The world needs to generate wealth and climate security and this is very precisely why we need to think about safe development strategies. When thinking how to achieve it, we may choose whether we can work in an efficient or in a wasteful manner, sustainably or destructively, or we can think in terms of being inclusive or think just about a few.

Europe already chose its path. Our businesses, innovators and workers know how to deliver green and resilient solutions with high social and environmental standards.

The European industrial community, the corporates are ready — and if we don't do it together with other partners, then may be others that can take their chance.

But when European companies engage, they bring something unique: high standards, trust, rule of law, and European values.

They build prosperity that lasts — and this is why we think we have both the obligation and the responsibility to be part of this task: an obligation because it is the foundation of a climate-resilient world free of fossil fuels.

A responsibility, because this is where the new economy is emerging — where our competitiveness and leadership must remain anchored.

The financial curve shows that early capital deployment in low-carbon technologies offers higher long-term returns, while inaction leads to future costs and volatility.

Even more. There's a 2 trillion-dollar global cleantech market expected by 2035.

Some key actors are stepping back or even weaponizing climate action and clean technologies through disinformation.

Others may have the technical capacity to seize opportunities in the global clean-tech market, but they do not necessarily share our standards or our values.

Europe must stay engaged. This is where we are. We think that the global vision on climate and energy builds on the Clean Industrial Deal and stands on it beyond our borders. Develops the external dimension of the Clean Industrial Deal.

 

The EU stays the course set by the Paris Agreement. The EU bets on its Clean Industrial Deal.

We are a reliable partner. We want to come along our corporates and companies. We want to be strategic both in geopolitical terms but also in terms of corporates and creation of wealth.

We will act on adaptation and resilience. We will add on energy.

We will build resilience as part of what we could consider just common sense.

This is our plan to support Europe's industry abroad. We want to promote visibility for European companies; to connect businesses with investment projects through the Global Gateway and other financial tools; to combine public and private efforts to leverage institutional and diplomatic partnerships; to support the different reforms and avenues that have already been shaped all over the world.

We want to be what we say we need. To build on  partnerships, predictability and purpose  to ensure that local communities can feel the benefits of the green agenda.

Only by upholding the standards we set for ourselves we can build a secure economy and a more prosperous Europe — but also a more prosperous world.

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Commissioner Hoekstra's remarks:

 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Very good to see all of you here today.

It would be an understatement to say that the world is much more complicated in geopolitical terms than five years ago.

 Looking back just the past twelve to eighteen months, we've been navigating a landscape with heightened tension, fiercer competition and increasingly more transactionalism.

That is the world we're living in.

The rules of the game have changed.

The old ways of doing things don't work anymore.

With this in mind, we need re-anchor, re-think how to move forward with EU's global climate and energy diplomacy.

This is why we have today's new Communication.

I'll focus on the climate part, sharing a couple of thoughts on the ‘why', the ‘what' and the ‘how'.

First, on the ‘why'.

The question is no longer whether the clean transition is happening but how fast, where it's happening, who will benefit and what the landscape will be throughout this transition.

Across the world, we're growing our economies while cutting emissions.

And the EU is leading the way.

In fact, since 1990 our economy grew by 68%, and over that same period emissions fell by 37% over that same period.

We continue to be all in:

We're a climate leader. We want to drive sustainable change.

And going forward, we want to do so in a way that leverages, more than in the past, our industrial and technological strengths.

Our leadership needs to pay off!

Think about what we did with the EU's Clean Industrial Deal.

We're making sure we're much more interconnected and that decarbonisation is a strategy for Climate. Competitiveness. Independence.

That's the type of offer we want to bring forward much more explicitly to the world:

We're going to tap into what others expect and want from us – but also be clear about what's in our best interests.

This will give opportunities to our companies.

While at the same time helping third countries – who represent the vast majority global emissions (94%) – continue their decarbonisation path. Second, on the ‘what', it needs to be first and foremost about multilateral cooperation.

Because we're convinced that it continues to work out.

Just look at what 10 years of Paris have accomplished.

You'll find that all the most radical and extreme scenarios – and that's very good news – are now off the table.

It doesn't mean we're not stuck with a huge problem.

But it shows that commitment to multilateralism, to diplomacy, and working with those who you don't yet agree with, works.

And we're going to continue with that, in a more assertive way.

And third, ‘how'.

We're using many different tools.

And working on many fronts, like on improving climate finance.

The EU's offer is to use our trade, investment and technical cooperation for the transition – and we will make sure this also benefits our businesses.

But one very important element is carbon pricing.

Looking at the data, in the last ten years, the number of countries introducing carbon pricing has doubled!

I just came back from Brazil and I was very much encouraged by what the Brazilians are doing on this front, but also our partners in Chile, Mexico, frankly speaking from all across the globe.

In the EU, our system is in place for 20 years.

It was the first in the world.

We also have the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, which also promotes carbon pricing with our trade partners.

And we have a special task force set up roughly a year ago to give support to partners as they implement carbon pricing systems.

The EU is already working closely with many countries on this and keen to continue with others.

It's very good to see there is appetite ever more.

It's really encouraging to see major economies like China, Japan and Brazil recently adopt and expand their carbon pricing policies.

Ladies and gentlemen,

There is much more to be said.

But the bottom line is – we're working to fulfil the goals set out in the Paris Agreement.

The EU will continue to be a reliable partner.

We are open for business and cooperation.

We'll be more assertive, needs-based and business-oriented.

And we'll do what it takes to speed up the global clean transition, in a way that benefits our people, businesses and future.

Thank you.

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Commissioner Jørgensen's remarks:

 

We live in turbulent times.

The political atmosphere has changed. Multilateralism is under pressure. The United States of America has decided to step out of the Paris Agreement.

At the same time, climate change is hitting the most vulnerable countries on this planet harder than ever. Every year, records of high temperatures are broken. Last year was the hottest year ever recorded. This year will be even hotter. Most likely, next year will be even hotter again.

The consequences are a catastrophe. The consequences are so severe that they are undermining some of the progress and economic growth that many countries were experiencing in the developing world.

So the EU must act. When others step down, we must step up. And this is exactly what we're doing with this strategy.

It's not just words on a piece of paper – this is a real paradigm shift.

For too long, even though the EU has made a lot of positive difference in the world on these issues, we have punched below our weight.

Why? Because we haven't been focused enough. We haven't been target oriented enough. And we haven't been coordinated enough.

We are a world leader when looking at what we have done on our own continent. We have managed to grow our economies while decoupling our emissions and reducing these emissions. This is leading by example.

We are also the biggest trading partner for most of the developing countries in the world. We are the biggest provider of development aid in the world. We have the biggest and the most far-reaching diplomacy in the world, including energy and climate diplomacy.

But still, when you add this up, we are not harnessing the possible synergies. And that is what we are intending to do now.

So building on the already good work that's being done, we want to do even more and be even more efficient.

Take Africa as an example: 600 million people without electricity. A growing population. Countries being hit hard by climate change.

Electrification and the deployment of more renewables is an absolute necessity for these countries. And we can help: via diplomacy, technical assistance, development aid, utilizing our global gateway instruments – we can make a real difference. And this strategy will help us do exactly that.

Thank you.