Tag: Alok Sharma

The speech made by Alok Sharma, the Cabinet Office, in Rotterdam in Netherlands, on 5 September 2022.

Patrick, thank you very much.

Presidents, your excellencies, sisters and brothers, if I may: I want to thank everyone for all the inspiring words we’ve heard, and indeed the pragmatic suggestions, as that’s what actually matters, Patrick, as you’ve said.

And I want to thank you, Patrick, you and your team at the Global Centre on Adaptation for putting this together, together with the African Union, with Akin and the African Development Bank.

This is a critical summit. I want to start by saying that, unlike Kristalina, I have no original jokes to offer. But I’ve noted the joke you made, and I’ll be using it – like a good politician, I’ll be repeating it and claiming it as my own at future events!

Friends, we are ten months since COP26. And, as I think we’ve heard, that was an important milestone on adaptation and the work that we do around this.

We have the Glasgow/Sharm-El-Sheik Work Programme, which has got going on the global goal on Adaptation.

And in Glasgow we also had the event – that I was very pleased to be part of – on launching the African Adaptation Acceleration Program. And Akin, you talked about the £20 million of UK funding for the program.

This is all about making sure that we are driving policy and project support to those working to design and implement transformational adaptation interventions.

And so whether that’s in agriculture or infrastructure, or innovative finance, as Ngozi said (and others have commented): at the end of the day, we have to see tackling climate change also as a growth opportunity. For jobs, for the economy.

And I think unless we encourage everyone to do that, we will not make the progress that we need to make.

Ban and other leaders have referenced the commitment that we got at COP of developed countries at least doubling their collective provision on adaptation finance for developing nations by 2025.

I can tell you that this wasn’t an easy process, but we got there. And the reality now is that countries have to deliver.

You will all have seen the OECD figures that have come out for 2020 on the $100bn goal. We are moving in the right direction when it comes to adaptation, but the reality is we are going to have to quicken that pace.

Patrick, you said not to talk about all the things that have been going wrong in the world when it comes to climate, so let me just say this: the one thing I think every single one of us can say, just looking in our own countries, our continents, is that the chronic threat of climate change has got worse since COP26.

Things aren’t getting better.

I could give you all the examples of Africa, which I’ve got here, but I’m not going to because you know all of this.

I can tell you from a UK point of view, for the first time, we had wildfires this summer; we have droughts being declared; we have climate emergencies in terms of temperature levels being declared this summer.

Climate change does not recognise borders. And I think the sooner every world leader recognises that, the better.

We’ve got sixty-two days to COP27. Patrick, you said we want to see what is actually going to happen.

One of the things that we did agree was that there would be a progress report on the $100bn delivery plan, that is being worked on by our friends in the Canadian and German governments.

We will publish that before COP27, so we will be able to see what progress is actually being made.

And of course, this is going to require all the providers – the MDBs and others – to set out clear, ambitious adaptation finance targets when we meet in Egypt.

And I also want to acknowledge the brilliant work that Kristalina and her team have done on the RSD; that is really quite remarkable, so thank you so much for all your leadership on that.

We know that the annual adaptation costs are expected to reach at least $140bn a year by 2030, and frankly public finance is not going to be enough. We are going to need private finance. And so in a way I agree; I wish we did have more of the private finance providers around this table.

You’ve all set out very clearly the challenges we have and how we rise to those. And I want to acknowledge, firstly, the enormous support and help that I’ve got from Amina over the past years in this role; but also to make the point that, as she said, we need to make sure that when we get to COP27, we have to demonstrate that what we achieved at COP26 is starting to be delivered.

I said in Glasgow that the pulse of 1.5 is weak. And I have to say to you friends, it does remain weak right now.

On the positive side, we were able to show in Glasgow that the multilateral system, however unwieldy, can work when we all understand that it’s in our collective self interest.

And so what we do need to ensure in the coming days, weeks, and two months to COP27, is that we’re delivering on adaptation.

I want to end by what Akin said. He said: ‘you’re all doers in this room’.

So I have to say friends, now we just need to get it done.

Thank you.

The speech made by Alok Sharma, the COP26 President, on 27 June 2022.

Thank you, Nick, and my congratulations as well on your OBE, and all you’re doing on climate action.

So, friends, I joined last year to close London Climate Action Week.

And that week, you’ll remember, saw a number of important announcements made, including the launch of the Net Zero Lawyers Alliance, and the expansion of the Powering Past Coal Alliance.

So, it is a real pleasure to be joining you again, and I very much hope we end this week with further, more ambitious commitments.

And it’s great to see so many climate leaders coming together.

And as Nick has said, it’s leaders from across London’s government, business, youth, and civil society communities.

Each of you squarely focused on how this brilliant city can be at the heart of tackling the climate crisis.

That, for me, is leadership on climate action.

Now, I understand that today’s first panel event will ask a simple, but actually vitally important question, which is:

“Are Glasgow’s Promises Being Delivered?”

It is the question that drives me forward, literally every waking hour, this year, during our COP Presidency year.

If I look back to November, the Glasgow Climate Pact was forged, under the UK’s stewardship, between almost 200 countries.

And it sets a path to a clean global future.

And I do think Glasgow was historic.

Because based on the commitments made in that Pact, and indeed through commitments outside the negotiating rooms as well, which some of you will have been involved in, we were able to say with credibility that we kept alive the prospect of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels.

As a result of the work done in the lead up to COP26, we’ve now got 90 percent of the global economy now covered by net zero targets.

When we took up the mantle of organising COP26, that was less than 30 percent.

The Glasgow Pact calls on countries to revisit and strengthen their 2030 emissions reduction targets, as necessary, to align with the Paris temperature goal, and to do that by the end of this year.

It urges developed countries to scale-up climate finance, and specifically to double finance for adaptation by 2025.

And it underlines the importance of adaptation, the dangers of loss and damage, and the need to scale-up action and support for both, whilst, at the same time, charting a way forward to do so.

Of course, we have to recognise the Glasgow Climate Pact has a whole range of other things it addressed, but I wanted to highlight the key ones.

And of course, the world has changed markedly in the months since COP26.

We meet against the backdrop of multiple global crises, much precipitated by the Putin regime’s illegal, brutal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

And even as we deal with these challenges, the evidence on climate is unequivocal.

The chronic threat of climate change is getting worse. That is what the science tells us.

Climate impacts are compounding existing vulnerabilities, food, water, migration-related issues.

Loss and damage is already occurring.

Millions of lives and livelihoods are being affected.

The one thing we have begun to understand as a result of Putin’s war, is that it amplifies the fact that climate and environmental security are totally interlinked, and are synonymous with energy and national security.

It is clear that the window of time we have left to act is closing.

And, frankly, it is closing fast.

It is critical, therefore, really critical, that we turn the commitments we made in Glasgow into action.

We have seen some progress made since COP26, on the commitments made in Glasgow.

So, what’s the progress?

I think we’ve seen some. I’ll go over some of the areas where we have.

13 new Nationally Determined Contributions, including one recently from our friends in Australia.

At the May Ministerial meeting I co-chaired in Copenhagen, bringing together almost 50 governments,

I have to say, I was encouraged by some of the statements made by countries looking actively at revisiting their NDC.

We’ve also had seven countries set out plans to revisit their emissions reduction targets at the recent Major Economies Forum, chaired by the US.

We’ve got 51 long-term strategies have now been submitted to the UNFCCC, including a number since Glasgow.

More than 2.5 billion people are now covered by adaptation plans.

And work is being done to scale up finance, and, through the Access to Finance Taskforce co-chaired by the UK and Fiji, we are working to make sure that the finance can reach the climate vulnerable countries that need it most.

We also saw progress on key work programmes at the intersessionals in Bonn this month.

So, if I were to sum all this up, Nick, I’d say the scorecard on the Glasgow Climate Pact reads: some progress made, but a lot more to do.

And we need to quicken the pace.

Every country must respond to the call to revisit and strengthen their NDC, and actually, particularly the G20, which, as we know, are collectively responsible for 80% of global emissions.

They must do so not at some vague point in the future, but by September 23rd this year, which is the deadline set by the UNFCCC.

And more countries of course need to come forward to submit long-term strategies by that deadline too.

And the reasons for this are that NDCs have to be backed by credible policies that deliver on the commitments made in Glasgow.

From commitments on coal and cars, to trees and methane, to an acceleration of the shift to renewables, as well as the move to clean technologies, which are at the heart of the Glasgow Breakthrough Agenda, which we launched at COP26.

We also need developed countries and other climate finance providers to ensure that finance flows to national and local adaptation priorities, supporting developing nations’ ambitions.

And that means further progress on delivering the $100 billion a year, and, of course, on the commitment to double adaptation finance to $40 billion by 2025.

This was a commitment made at COP and we have to honour it.

We must also get the Santiago Network operationalised by the time we get to COP27, and show progress on work on the Global Goal on Adaptation, and the Glasgow Dialogue on loss and damage.

This may sound like a really large programme of work.

But it is what we agreed on delivering in Glasgow.

And, in some respects, this is just the start.

Looking ahead to COP27, and, indeed, beyond, we need to see faster progress on mobilising the trillions needed to put the world on a more sustainable footing.

So, that means, finance for developing countries.

For critical sectors.

For clean technologies.

Finance for our Just Energy Transition Partnerships too, such as the one we agreed for South Africa at COP26.

And these JETPs, as we call them, are mechanisms that tailor support to individual developing countries’ energy transitions, helping to deliver national plans that keep the lights and the factories running, whilst at the same time driving progress towards a clean energy transition.

And, at the same time, supporting the very many thousands of people, who currently rely on fossil fuels for a living, to reskill and retrain.

And I have to say that, done right, these partnerships will have a profound impact around the world.

Just last week, I was in South Africa, and I had the opportunity to meet many Cabinet ministers, but I also met current miners and mining trade unions.

Their testimony was powerful.

It is vital that the transition to clean energy is done in a managed way, which protects livelihoods and provides retraining opportunities, and jobs for affected workers.

Above all, and I’m just being very frank about this, this is not about flicking a switch overnight.

It is about a carefully managed transition.

So, on JETPs, and across all the issues I have touched on here, we must continue to make progress.

And I am going to be using the remaining months of our COP26 Presidency to urge further action, through the G7, the G20, at the UN General Assembly, and during the second Climate and Development Ministerial in September, which the UK is going to be hosting in the margins of UNGA.

None of this work can be done without cities, local authorities, businesses, young people, and civil society by our side, making their own commitments, and driving us on.

Look at London.

This is a city which is, in very many ways, a big international powerhouse.

It provides the UK with huge social, economic, and cultural energy.

But as we are recognising through this gathering, the city is also responsible for a significant portion of total UK emissions.

So there is clearly work to be done.

And I am pleased that today’s second panel, which is looking specifically at London’s transition, and how to address this whole issue head on.

There is already progress to report.

For example, and you will know this, London is now ranked first on the Global Green Finance Index, an initiative that evaluates the green finance offerings of 80 major financial centres around the world.

And the Government is providing funding to support the UK Cities Climate Investment Commission, helping to mobilise finance and drive investment into low and net zero carbon emissions projects across London, and across the UK’s largest cities.

But I urge all those with us today to go further.

I urge local leaders to set out the clear steps they will be taking to reach net zero across different areas.

From housing and transport.

To planting trees and enhancing nature.

Tackling air pollution, and building green infrastructure.

Frankly, the sort of infrastructure that the Prime Minister championed, during his mayoralty, to make London one of the most cycle-friendly cities in the world.

And, to all those business leaders in the audience, I urge you to recognise that net zero is one of the clearest economic trends there has ever been.

As I said earlier, 90 percent of the global economy is now covered by net zero targets.

We also know, at COP26, we have financial institutions with over $130 trillion of assets on their balance sheets, many of them actually based in London, have committed to net zero by 2050 through the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero.

The UN-backed Race to Zero campaign, which commits its members to reach net zero by 2050 at the latest, now has 7,500 international businesses, that’s an almost 50 percent increase in the number of businesses since COP26.

And, of course, over 60 percent of UK FTSE100 companies are committed to net zero as part of that effort.

The opportunities this transition presents, for jobs, for investment, and for economic growth, are actually clear.

And frankly the idea that there is a trade-off between climate action and corporate success is increasingly seen as anachronistic.

So, for those of you who have already committed to net zero as part of this effort, I want to thank you, I want to salute you for that, but now is the time to go further and set out clear plans, clear transition plans, for how you will get there.

For those of you who have not yet committed to net zero, please, just go for it.

You won’t be disappointed.

It’s going to be good for your bottom line.

Finally, I know there are youth and civil society leaders in the audience today as well.

Your role is absolutely crucial.

I have been clear about that throughout the UK’s COP26 Presidency.

In fact, we established the COP26 Civil Society and Youth Advisory Council to help shape the Glasgow summit.

And when I’ve gone around the world, I’ve always made an effort to meet youth and civil society groups around the world, and hear their views.

We need your knowledge, your enthusiasm, and your leadership.

We need people who are on-the-ground in their communities, helping to deliver effective local solutions.

And, frankly, we need you to keep up the pressure on governments and businesses to deliver on the commitments they have made.

Between all of us: central and local government, business, youth, civil society,

London can continue to be a powerful force for change.

Creating the conditions for ambitious climate action, which is what we need.

So, thank you for your leadership, for using your influence, and for showing how strongly the appetite for climate action exists.

But your work does not end with the UK’s COP26 Presidency.

Because whilst the work we did in Glasgow did allow us to say with some credibility that we had kept 1.5 degrees alive, the reality is that the pulse of 1.5 remains weak.

The only way, my friends, that we will strengthen it is to redouble our efforts and to make sure to implement the commitments we have made.

Thank you so much for having me today.

And best of luck for the rest of the week.

The speech made by Alok Sharma, the COP26 President, at the UN High Level Political Forum on 13 July 2022.

Excellencies, colleagues, friends.

It is an absolute pleasure to be joining you today.

When we met last year, the UK co-convened a constructive discussion on effective climate adaptation, and a green and inclusive recovery from the pandemic.

Today is another important milestone.

Yes, much has changed in the last year.

We meet against the backdrop of multiple global crises, much precipitated by the Putin regime’s illegal, brutal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

And many now recognise that climate and environmental security are completely interlinked with energy and national security.

And whilst countries must deal with their immediate energy needs, many have understood that our shared long-term energy futures do not lie in fossil fuels.

But even as we deal with these challenges, the central premise of last year’s session – that we must deliver a just and sustainable recovery – holds true.

Because just as the global economic situation is perilous, the science is clear that the chronic threat of climate change is getting worse.

Now, I am very pleased that the UK is at the forefront of the efforts to tackle global warming.

And last year’s G7, convened in Carbis Bay, delivered a step change in infrastructure investment, in pursuit of clean, green growth.

We have continued to lead through our “British Investment Partnerships,” and the “Clean Green Initiative,” mobilising billions, and our financial expertise, to drive clean growth around the world.

And for me it has been an incredible honour to drive this agenda forward as COP26 President.

The Glasgow Climate Pact, forged amongst nearly 200 countries, was historic.

And based on the commitments made in that Pact, and indeed outside the negotiating rooms,

I believe that we were able to say with credibility that we kept alive the prospect of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels; and that we had supported the most vulnerable.

We got important commitments on mitigation, particularly the call for countries to revisit and strengthen their NDCs by the end of this year.

The Glasgow Sharm-el Sheikh work programme underlined the imperative for all countries to prepare and respond to climate risks.

And, for the first time ever in these processes, the Pact recognised the need to address the issue of loss and damage substantively, and systematically.

Countries, companies and financial institutions pledged to clean up vital sectors, to end deforestation, and to accelerate the move to clean technologies.

And we did important work to scale-up climate finance, with the $100 billion Delivery Plan, the commitment to at least double adaptation finance by 2025, and work to ensure that finance flows to national and local adaptation priorities.

Financial institutions with over $130 trillion of assets on their balance sheets committed to a net zero future.

And I was delighted that we were able to announce the first “Just Energy Transition Partnership,” the South Africa JETP.

Now many of these commitments ensured we pushed forward across several of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals as well, from “Life Below Water” to “Life On Land.”

What we achieved together in Glasgow was significant.

And I am pleased that we have seen some progress since November.

We’ve got 16 new, revised NDCs.

We’ve got a handful of new long-term strategies.

Over 2.5 billion people now covered by adaptation plans.

And extensive work to scale up and improve access to finance is continuing.

But, collectively, friends, the progress has been too limited, and just too slow.

Many of the commitments we heard in Glasgow remain just that, commitments.

Words on a page.

And all the while the evidence tells us that time is running out.

From the science of the IPCC reports, to the wildfires, droughts and floods to which the world is sadly too often witness.

So, across all the commitments we made in Glasgow, we simply must quicken the pace.

If we don’t, next year’s Global Stocktake will make clear that we are not delivering on the Paris Goals, that 1.5 degrees is moving further, and frankly irreversibly, out of reach, and that we risk going beyond our limits to adapt.

The consequences of that would be grave, for every sector, and for every country.

This, my friends, is about the immediate impact on the lives and livelihoods of many millions around the world.

So, I will continue to urge countries and companies to redouble their efforts, to ensure that their emissions targets represent the highest possible ambition, and to implement the commitments that they have made.

And I am going to convene the second Climate and Development Ministerial in the margins of the UN General Assembly.

And we will of course continue to engage with our friends in Egypt.

In all this work, my message is a consistent one.

We do have an opportunity to build back better and greener, and to put the world on the path to a more sustainable future.

But we are running out of time.

We have to act.

And we have to act now.

Thank you.

The speech made by Alok Sharma at the G7 Climate, Energy and Environment Ministerial press conference in Berlin on 27 May 2022.

In recent months, the clouds have darkened over the international landscape.

With Putin’s illegal and brutal invasion of Ukraine, war has unfortunately returned to Europe.

The tectonic plates within our geopolitics have shifted.

We are seeing inflation spiking around the world.

We are seeing debt mounting and energy prices rising.

And globally, people are struggling to feed their families, all as we continue to deal with the effects of the pandemic.

Yet the current crises should increase, not diminish, our determination to deliver on the challenges we face on climate, on energy, and on the environment.

The G7 represents some of the most advanced economies in the world.

So, the message we send as the G7 absolutely matters to the global community.

Therefore, I am pleased that we have shown leadership today.

As we sit here, in the shadow of a former coal store, which was then a gas storage tower, now is being converted into offices for clean energy startups, there could be no clearer sign.

Our shared, long-term energy futures do not lie in fossil fuels.

This time last year, the G7 showed that it was prepared to act and now we have gone further still.

I am pleased to say that in this communique we have reaffirmed our unwavering commitment to the Paris Agreement, as well as the commitments made in the Glasgow Climate Pact just six months ago.

I am encouraged that this communique responds to the Glasgow Climate Pact’s ask of nations to revisit and strengthen the ambition of our individual 2030 emission reduction targets.

And in line with this, we call on all countries, but especially major emitters, to increase their ambition, if their 2030 NDCs are not aligned with a 1.5 degree pathway.

On finance, we have reaffirmed our goal to mobilise $100 billion a year to support developing nations, and our confidence that this will be met in 2023.

Following the Just Energy Transition Partnership for South Africa, which we announced at COP26, we have agreed to work on other such ambitious partnerships and I very much hope we will be able to announce some of these by the time we get to Sharm el-Sheikh.

Adaptation and loss and damage were also key pillars of the Glasgow Climate Pact.

In this communique we have underlined their centrality, including our commitment to double adaptation finance by 2025, on 2019 levels, to support those countries most vulnerable to climate change.

But we must show action and deliver on that pledge.

So I am pleased that the communique commits the G7 to do just that.

I welcome the G7’s clear affirmation of commitments on loss and damage, and our support for the operationalisation of the Santiago Network, work on the Global Risk Shield, as well as engagement in the Glasgow Dialogue.

I am encouraged to see G7 support for an inclusive global Climate Club, to coordinate ambitious climate action, including with the G20 and developing countries.

We are equally united in the view that climate and environment security are absolutely synonymous with energy and national security and I cannot overstate that.

Solving the global energy crisis and the chronic climate crisis requires the same solution, it’s about reducing our dependence on fossil fuels, as part of a managed transition.

So I welcome the significant leadership and unity the G7 has shown, to go further than last year on fossil fuel finance, by committing to cease G7 international fossil fuel finance by the end of the year.

We also have the G7’s first coal phase-out goal and endorsement of the Glasgow Breakthroughs.

While governments need to deal with their immediate and acute energy needs, we can, and we must, do this without locking in medium and long-term emissions.

Looking ahead, we must aim to arrive in Egypt having gone further.

In the coming months, this group must continue to discuss the targets for 100% net zero power by 2035, 100% of new car sales being zero emission by early next decade, and clear targets in industrial sectors.

These are tough challenges, and while progress is being made, we must all aim to go further if we are to meet them.

We have no other choice if we really aim to keep 1.5 within reach.

We heard yesterday from the Marshall Islands envoy Tina Stege who told us that the window of time to act is in danger of “slamming shut”. It really is as acute as that for many people around the world.

Additionally, we are all focused on the need to respond to environmental degradation and biodiversity loss.

I am pleased that we are building on the historic G7 2030 Nature Compact, agreed in Carbis Bay last year.

In this communique and the Ocean Deal, we have made a series of essential and ambitious commitments.

And critically, we have joined our foreign and development colleagues in highlighting the need to make the global biodiversity conference, CBD COP15, the equivalent of a Paris moment for nature.

Rapidly scaling up finance for nature is going to be critical to an ambitious biodiversity agreement, so I am pleased we have committed to mobilise resources from all sources, including public finance, while ensuring our economic and financial decision-making aligns with the recovery of nature.

I am pleased in particular that G7 members have committed to ensuring their aid portfolios as a whole become nature-positive.

Despite this progress, across the energy, environment, and climate tracks we have discussed here, our aim to keep 1.5 degrees alive remains fragile.

We must accelerate delivery, turning targets and commitments into action.

And we must show the world that leaders recognise the scale of the challenges we face, that we will make good on the promises that we have made, and that we will continue to build on those commitments.

I want to end by thanking our German hosts for their excellent G7 leadership, and indeed all ministerial colleagues here for continuing to raise the bar, and showing that the G7 remains able and willing to lead from the front, and do so in a united manner.

But it is now vital that this work continues, through the Germany G7 presidency, the Indonesian G20 presidency, at the CBD COP15, and other international fora as we travel on the road to COP27 in Egypt this November.

The speech made by Alok Sharma, the COP26 President, at the Future of News Conference in London on 11 May 2022.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for having me here today.

They say that only two things in life are certain, death and taxes.

But to that list, I would add the tenacity and the rigour of the British press.

Whether it is war, or corruption, or injustice, or hypocrisy, or indeed a desire for greater transparency, you are unrelenting, uncompromising, and fearless in your pursuit of the truth, and in your determination to hold those in power to account.

I can tell you, from personal experience, being under the magnifying glass of the British press can be mildly uncomfortable.

Anyone remember “Air Miles Alok”?

Anyone from the Daily Mail here? Ok let’s move on.

But however much it makes those under scrutiny squirm, I hope that you will never change.

Over the past year, I have been in 35 countries to persuade governments to up their climate commitments.

Because as you all know, better I think than anyone, you rarely land a story, or in my case a commitment, on the phone.

It needs to be face-to-face.

And on those visits I have been in very many newsrooms, I have been interviewed by your peers from Berlin to Brasilia, from Nairobi to New Delhi.

But rarely does anything evoke greater trepidation in politicians than walking into Milbank or indeed taking a call from a Fleet Street journalist.

And I have to say I think that is a credit to your industry, and the press freedom this country holds so dearly.

The question I really want to address today is what a future shaped by a changing climate means for reporting, and holding to account, by the British press.

Because that unfortunately is the future that we face.

Now you will be aware of this, but I think it’s worth saying that scientific report after scientific report demonstrates that unless we get to grips with climate change, the effects will be catastrophic for people and nature.

Last year, we had a seminal report by the UN climate science body, the IPCC, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, noted that average global temperatures have risen by 1.1 degrees above preindustrial levels.

The report also concluded that human activity is unequivocally responsible for global warming.

This report was agreed by 195 countries, and its findings were based on the distillation of 14,000 scientific papers.

I can tell you from my own personal experience, getting almost 200 countries to agree on something this substantive is far from easy.

Now, there will be those who will say that 1.1 degrees does not sound like very much, but we see the impacts around the world.

Last year saw devastating floods across Europe and Asia.

Wildfires raged in North America and Australia.

And already this year India and Pakistan have been experiencing extreme heat waves, with some of the hottest months since records began.

Floods have killed hundreds in South Africa.

And the IPCC’s latest reports published this year, tell us that due to climate change, ecosystems are being irreversibly destroyed, people are being forced from their homes, human health is being damaged, and water and food insecurity have increased.

I have seen this first hand.

I’ve met mountain communities in Nepal that have been forced to flee from their homes because of a combination of floods and droughts caused by the changing climate.

I’ve witnessed the effects of Hurricane Irma four years on in Barbuda.

Buildings lying derelict, roofs still blown off, walls crumbling, and people forced from their island homes due to climate change.

And talking to those affected is heartbreaking.

Because you get to not just see but you get to hear the human cost of a changing climate.

The reality is that climate change does not respect borders.

It impacts us all.

Here in the UK each of our top ten warmest years since 1884, have occurred since 2002.

Climate change is not a stand alone issue to be mitigated.

Unfortunately it exacerbates other existing risks.

These are what respected think tanks, like Chatham House, call the “systemic cascading risks” of global warming; the knock-on-effects resulting from climate change, such as food and water insecurity, pests, diseases, the loss of lives, livelihoods and infrastructure.

Indeed in one of its recent reports, Chatham House makes the case that such factors could, ultimately, displace people, disrupt markets, undermine political stability, and exacerbate conflict.

And, frankly, where people’s ability to feed their families becomes precarious and extreme weather and disease wipe out livelihoods, people may be forced from their homes, and civil unrest may foment,

events that can undermine fragile governments, and then ultimately reverberate around the globe.

It is because climate is central to geopolitics, that the UK’s Integrated Review established tackling climate change and biodiversity loss as the UK’s top international priority.

These impacts are happening today, and we know that in the future, they will become more severe.

Because unfortunately further temperature rises are now inevitable.

Even if we limit the rise in global temperature to 1.5 degrees celsius, the effects will be significant.

Yet there is still everything to play for, because the higher temperatures rise, the more extreme the effects become.

And every fraction of a degree makes a difference.

At 1.5 degrees warming, 700million people will be exposed to extreme heat around the world.

At 2 degrees it’s 2 billion people.

At 1.5 degrees, 70 percent of all coral reefs around the world would be destroyed.

At 2 degrees they are just about all gone.

But to keep that 1.5 degree limit alive we are going to have to halve global emissions by 2030.

And I think it’s worth saying that the cost of inaction is far, far greater than the cost of taking action now.

The Office for Budget Responsibility projects that unchecked climate change could lead to UK public debt reaching a staggering 289 percent of GDP by the end of the century.

But just as the science has become starker, the environmental and economic opportunities presented by tackling climate change have become clearer.

When the UK took on the role of hosting COP26, less than 30 percent of the global economy was covered by a net zero target.

By the time we got to COP26, with like minded partners around the world, we had persuaded 90 percent of the global economy to sign up to net zero.

So I would say that where the UK has led, others have followed.

Net zero is one of the clearest economic trends.

It encompasses just about every country and every sector.

As journalists, you are used to following the money.

So there is a reason why more than 7000 international companies have signed up to rigorous net zero targets.

There is a reason why, at COP26, financial institutions with over $130 trillion dollars of assets on their balance sheets were signed up to net zero.

There is a reason why earlier this year Larry Fink, who as you know runs Black Rock, one of the biggest fund managers in the world, wrote to the CEOs of Black Rock’s investee companies, and he noted:

that climate risk is investment risk, that there is a tectonic shift of capital underway, that sustainable investments have now reached $4trillion, and that every company and every industry will be transformed by the transition to a net zero world.

Mr Fink went on to ask these investee companies whether they would lead this transition or whether they would be led.

And the reason for all of this is because businesses around the world can see the economic dividend from the pursuit of net zero.

It is clear to governments and businesses that the future of the global economy is clean.

And we must embrace the opportunities that presents.

But whether we do so fast enough or not, one thing is clear.

Climate change will define the future.

So it is rightly commanding increasing media attention.

Years ago, climate was a side issue for journalists specialising in international development or the environment.

Now it runs through many areas, from business, to culture, to sport, to economics, to fashion, and of course politics.

Analysis by Carbon Brief, which focuses on climate, shows that the number of editorials in UK newspapers calling for more action to tackle climate change has quadrupled in three years.

And yes, scepticism has diminished.

That same analysis found that in 2011, right-leaning newspapers ran one editorial in favour of climate action for every five against.

By 2021, those same newspapers were publishing nine positive editorials for every one against.

Now, from my perspective, this focus is extremely welcome, but of course this year, climate is no longer in the spotlight.

COP26 is over, although of course our presidency year continues until November.

The headlines are understandably dominated by the other immense and immediate challenges facing the world.

Vladimir Putin’s illegal and brutal invasion of Ukraine will define 2022.

And that is rightly the focus of the media and the international community.

And I understand that you’ve just had a discussion panel on Ukraine and reflected on the journalists who have very sadly lost their lives, and of course I pay tribute to all of them.

And of course, governments must also address the global crisis in energy markets and increasing inflation and its attendant impacts.

And again, the media is naturally focusing on this.

And actually it is quite interesting that, the current crisis has also made clear to governments that homegrown renewables and clean energy,

the price of which cannot be manipulated from afar, are the best option for domestic energy security.

Climate security has become synonymous with energy security.

And the chronic threat of climate change is unfortunately not going away.

And so journalists are vital to ensure it continues to receive the column inches and the air time that it deserves, and that leaders are held to account.

Because world leaders have committed to tackle climate change.

Almost seven years ago, countries forged the Paris Agreement.

And in this they committed to limit the average rise in global temperature to well below two degrees, pursuing efforts towards 1.5.

Last year at COP26, nations agreed the historic Glasgow Climate Pact that showed how we will deliver this.

And countries agreed to revisit and strengthen their 2030 emissions reduction targets this year, to align them with the Paris temperature goals.

They agreed to phasedown coal power and phase out fossil fuel subsidies.

And they agreed that the developed countries would provide more finance to support developing nations to deal with climate change.

Alongside the Glasgow Climate Pact, companies and countries made commitments at COP26 to clean up critical sectors, to halt deforestation, and to work together to accelerate green technologies.

In short, the world has agreed what it needs to do. Our task now is to deliver.

And to achieve that, we need you to do what you do best, and hold governments and businesses to account.

The British media has significant international clout.

Editorials written here are read with keen interest in capitals around the globe.

You help focus the eyes of the world on those in positions of responsibility,

to scrutinise whether or not they deliver on their commitments.

And if they do not, you have the tools to hold them to account.

We also need you to help people understand the reality of climate impacts.

And help them make informed choices.

And of course, we need you to interrogate objectively the benefits of the move to clean economies.

Ladies and gentleman, I believe that the chronic threat of climate change, and its expansive impact, will increasingly be the biggest story of the twenty-first century.

I will go further.

I would argue it will ultimately be the biggest story in many of our lifetimes.

And we need you to tell it.

And we need you to shape it.

By continuing to do what you do best.

Speak truth to power.

Report on the reality of the world around us.

These are the finest qualities of the British press.

So whatever the future of news, they must endure.

Thank you.

The statement made by Alok Sharma, the President of COP26, on 31 October 2021.

Friends, it is an honour to speak to you today for the first time as COP President.

And I want to thank my dear friend Carolina for her really strong leadership over the past two years.

Friends, I am very aware of the responsibility placed upon me in this role.

And I do not underestimate the challenge.

Let me start first by formally welcoming you to Glasgow.

And I want to thank you for all your efforts in getting to the United Kingdom, which I know for some has been arduous due to the impacts of the pandemic.

Indeed for almost two years now the pandemic has caused devastation and disruption, to lives and livelihoods across the world.

And I know this has particularly affected the least developed countries and the small island developing states.

And because of the pandemic, as you know, we postponed COP26 by a year. But during that year, climate change did not take time off.

And the IPCC report in August was a wake-up call for all of us.

It made clear that the lights are flashing red on the climate dashboard.

That report, agreed by 195 Governments, makes clear that human activity is unequivocally the cause of global warming.

And we know that the window to keep 1.5 degrees within reach is closing.

I have been humbled to speak over this year with communities devastated by climate change.

On a visit to Jomsom in Nepal, in the Hindu-Kush region I spoke to communities literally displaced from their homes from a combination of droughts and floods.

In Barbuda I met communities still suffering from the ravages of Hurricane Irma four years ago.

I have spoken with communities in East Africa fighting plagues of locusts spawned by climate change.

And earlier this month I spoke to a group of women in Madagascar,

Determinedly coping with what some describe, as the first climate induced famine in the world.

Friends, in each of our countries we are seeing the devastating impact of a changing climate.

Floods, cyclones, wildfires, record temperatures.

We know that our shared planet is changing for the worse.

And we can only address that together, through this international system.

And we know what we need to do.

Because six years ago, in Paris we agreed our shared goals.

We said we would protect people and nature from the effects of climate change.

We said we would get finance flowing to climate action.

And we said we would limit the rise in global temperature to well below two degrees pursuing efforts towards 1.5.

The rapidly changing climate is sounding an alarm to the world, to step up on adaptation, to address loss and damage, and to act now to keep 1.5 alive.

We know that this COP, COP26, is our last best hope to keep 1.5 in reach.

And I know that we have an unprecedented negotiations agenda ahead of us.

But I believe this international system can deliver.

It must deliver.

And as COP President I am committed to promoting transparency and inclusivity.

And I will lead this conference in accordance with the draft rules of procedure, and with the utmost respect for the party-driven nature of our process.

In that spirit I believe that we can resolve the outstanding issues. We can move the negotiations forward. And we can launch a decade of every increasing ambition and action.

And, together, we can seize the enormous opportunities for green growth, for good green jobs, for cheaper, cleaner power.

But we need to hit the ground running to develop the solutions that we need.

And that work, my friends, starts today.

And we will succeed.

Or fail.

As one.

Astronauts speak of the intense emotion they feel when looking back at Earth from space. Seeing it gleaming through the darkness of the cosmos.

Incredible, improbable and infinitely precious.

And if we act now, and we act together, we can protect our precious planet.

So let’s come together over these two weeks.

And ensure that where Paris promised, Glasgow delivers.

Thank you.