Good morning, ladies and gentlemen,

I would like to thank His Excellency Dr. Sultan Al Jaber and the Government of the United Arab Emirates for hosting this very important meeting, the Abu Dhabi Ascent, and for their strong leadership and commitment. Particularly, I commend the visionary leadership of Dr. Sultan Al Jaber for leading this meeting.

We are here because change is in the air.

We know that climate change is costing us dearly.

You’ve just heard such a powerful statement done by former United States Vice-President Al Gore. We were very much inspired and I hope that everybody will continue to be inspired, committed and resolved, led by guidance of IPCCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] and science.

If we continue business as usual it will cost us even more.

But there is an alternative.

Effective, affordable solutions exist or are becoming available to all of us.

We will learn about many of these opportunities over the next two days here in Abu Dhabi.

This meeting is a very important milestone, politically and also morally and scientifically, on the road to the Climate Summit I am convening on September 23rd at the United Nations in New York. I very much hope that we will be able to generate strong political momentum here in Abu Dhabi before leaders come to New York.

I am asking all participants – including you, the media -- to leave here inspired and also to work with the United Nations, to work for humanity. You are the connectors. You can play a very important, connecting role. What government leaders, business community are doing should be properly and correctly conveyed to the world.

That is how we will mobilize the political will for a meaningful global climate agreement by 2015 in Paris.

We need actions that will reduce emissions, strengthen resilience and improve well-being and prosperity worldwide while protecting the environment.

The Abu Dhabi Ascent is an opportunity to demonstrate that people are ready to work together for a low carbon future.

We will learn about many initiatives, ideas and partnerships over the coming two days. You will have already seen these initiatives which we are going to achieve. There are at least nine initatives – these may not be all, there will be more. But these are the most important intiatives which we hope to be able to achieve and generate momentum for that.

We must scale these initiatives up and spread them far and wide.

Our motto must be adopt and adapt.

Adopt what works and adapt it for your nation, for your business, your community.

The benefits of addressing climate change far outweigh the costs.

But the longer we delay the more we will have to pay.

Time is against us.

Nature will not wait. We can not negotiate with nature. Al Gore said it.

The planet is sending us clearly a message that nature is now sick.

We must listen.

That is why I am saying to world leaders: Don’t be on the losing side of history.

Change is in the air.

Solutions exist. The race is on. It’s time to lead. It’s time to lead now.

Thank you for your commitment and support.

I will be happy to take some questions.