Statement by President von der Leyen at the G20 Summit II: A resilient world

Your excellencies,

I want to speak about climate change and energy transitions. And I want to bring a message of hope and opportunity to this G20 summit. It's a message about clean energy technologies and clean energy transitions. Not only do they meet our urgent need to tackle climate change. They do much more than that.

Clean energy transitions are cost-competitive, as never before. They create jobs at home. They open new ways to bring modern energy to the many millions that remain without access. And they are a natural fit for many developing economies. The IEA says, that 80% of energy consumption growth over the next decade occurs in regions with high-quality solar resources.

There are huge opportunities in Africa, not only sun and wind. For wind, for geothermal, hydropower and new low-emissions fuels. And for the investments in grids, storage and other infrastructure that tie the energy system together. This can be the growth story of the 21^st century.

Therefore, I would like to assure you of two things.

First, I want to assure you of Europe's commitment to lead by example. We are firmly on track to meet our own 2030 target, we have an ambitious NDC for 2035 and we have the goal of climate neutrality for 2050. Europe is staying the course. 

Second, I want to assure you of Europe's commitment to partner with developing economies, to mobilise investments in clean energy around the world. Of the €2 trillion invested globally in clean energy last year, only 2% was in Africa. While 600 million people on the continent do not have access to electricity. And while Africa has 60% of the world's best solar potential. This cannot be. We must change this imbalance.

That is at the core of our Global Gateway initiative, our more than 300 billion euro investment programme. That is also why, together with President Ramaphosa, we launched a campaign called "Scaling Up Renewables in Africa". Yesterday we had our final pledging event. We welcome contributions from many of you and from the private sector. We reached 15.5 billion euro for investments in clean energy in Africa – and again, I know many of you here have contributed and I want to thank you so much for that.