Remarks by the President of the General Assembly
H.E. Ms. Annalena Baerbock
at the Opening of the High-Level Segment at COP30
17 November 2025
[As delivered]
Executive Secretary, Simon Stiell,
Excellencies,
Ministers,
Distinguished delegates,
Citizens around the world.
What better place to be here for the 10th Anniversary of the Paris Agreement, but also the 80th anniversary of the United Nations and the birthplace of the UNFCCC.
Congratulations to Brazil and to the people and the government for this hope, for this hope for the forest, but also for the hope for the people.
Speaking today as President of the General Assembly of the United Nations, I can assure you, in these heavy geopolitical times, we all feel the headwinds and the backlash.
But this is not a moment of resignation, it’s a moment of action.
Those of us who have spent years in the climate process know that the COP journey has never been one of easy, linear progress. It always came, and it always comes, in ebbs and flows.
Through late nights and endless negotiations, we learned to push through the despair of Copenhagen and to carry forward the triumph of Paris.
That is why, especially as we celebrate 10 years of Paris, which is a long time spent if we look at the effect of climate crisis, but very short term for international diplomacy, I want to focus on the flows on the momentum of the last 10 years. Because hope and courage, when shared, can be contagious, and because, frankly, we do not have the luxury of wallowing when people are counting on us.
The climate crisis is unrelenting. It pays no heed to our frustrations or to the denials of skeptics.
We saw this when Hurricane Melissa barreled into the Caribbean two weeks ago; we saw it again last week as the Philippines endured two near back-to-back typhoons.
As the Prime Minister of the Bahamas said during UN High-Level Week in September: “We do not have the luxury of re-starting an esoteric conversation about the causes of climate change. Our living reality means that we simply do not have the time.”
So let us look to the flows — to the positive currents shaping our future.
First: the unstoppable rise of clean energy.
The Paris Agreement mentioned renewables only once; many doubting their potential. Talking about phasing out coal was seen as almost sacrilegious.
And now, today, 10-years later, a short period of international diplomacy, we are transitioning away from fossil fuels altogether. We decided this two years ago.
And renewables are cheap. They are scalable. And they are now the fastest-growing source of power, accounting for 90% of new energy installations globally in 2024.
We speak so often of tipping points in negative terms — but there are also positive tipping points too. And this is one of them, maybe the most important one. You can demonize clean energy all you want, but ten years after Paris, renewables are simply unstoppable.
As they say: It’s the economy, stupid.
No investor wants stranded assets. In 2024, global investment in clean energy reached 2 trillion dollars — 800 billion more than in fossil fuels.
Our task now is to ensure that this innovation and the financing thereof reaches everyone, everywhere — especially those who have yet to benefit from it. Especially on the African continent, because this was also the promise of Paris.
The second flow is that innovation is no longer confined to a few countries or a few investors — we are innovating together, interconnectedly.
From last week’s World Social Summit, to the SDGs; from the Paris Agreement to Sevilla, from the Global Digital Compact to the new finance instruments emerging here, in Belem — our job is to converge these agendas, intersectorally.
As early-warning systems, resilient infrastructure, community preparedness are being transformed through digital tools that advance social justice and climate action at the same time.
Social justice and climate action are two sides of the same coin.
It is already happening around the world, it’s happening on the ground.
Just days ago, I met a young woman, a CEO, who developed a solar-powered, AI-enabled water purification device — crucial for flood-prone communities.
That is the future.
The third flow is this: the money exists. It simply needs to be redirected.
In a world of abundance, the problem is not the availability of capital as such, it is where that capital goes.
Last year alone, developing countries paid roughly 1.4 trillion US dollars in external debt servicing.
Imagine what could be achieved if some of that burden were lifted and those resources reallocated to climate mitigation, clean energy, resilience and adaptation.
We could forge stronger public–private partnerships.
We could expand concessional finance.
We could finally deliver on the Baku-to-Belém Roadmap.
As I said: this climate process comes in ebbs and flows.
You may ask why I chose today, in the beginning of the high-level segment, and the heavy negotiations, to speak about the “flows.” Well, it is not naïveté.
It is because I, too, have felt frustrated by global setbacks.
But I have also been inspired time and again, since Paris, by the courage and determination of people who, across regions and sectors, pushed forward despite the headwinds.
We have seen this movie before, and we know how it goes.
Let us not wallow. The solutions are all out there. All over the world.
We now have to connect them.
By focusing on our strongest greatest strength: cross-regional cooperation.
Or as you say here in Brazil: Let’s have a mutirão, meaning, everybody joining forces.
This collective power is stronger than ever.
People, governments, businesses, finance actors…
And the good news is this: if the flows are moving in the right direction, they are simply unstoppable.
Thank you.
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