Speech by the President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, at the High-Level Segment of the Climate Action Summit

Dubai (United Arab Emirates)

SPEECH BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE GOBERNMENT OF SPAIN, PEDRO SÁNCHEZ

Your Excellencies.

The COP in Dubai must be a major opportunity for the coming years. This must surely be so, and it is certainly Spain's firm desire.

And I am not deceiving myself. The climate emergency is wreaking havoc and we are nowhere near meeting the targets set in Paris.

But this COP gives us an opportunity to adopt a new, strengthened, fair and equitable climate agenda that is shaped by the outcome of the Global Stocktake on the three climate agendas. So let's make the most of it.

First, in terms of financing, because we need a new architecture that facilitates access to funds, that removes obstacles, that identifies new opportunities.

We must put climate goals at the heart of economic and fiscal policies, develop robust carbon markets, tackle debt problems and increase fiscal space for the most vulnerable countries. And we also need to work on new international taxation, guided by the polluter pays principle, and create the enabling environments to encourage investment, innovation and climate cooperation.

To support our partners, in addition to the funds we announced at the Climate Ambition Summit in New York, today I would like to announce a new contribution of €20 million for the new loss and damage fund, on top of the €5 million already approved for the implementation of the Santiago Network.

It is also urgent to stop deforestation and, in particular, to prevent the environmental degradation of the Amazon. This is why we are going to earmark €2 million to the environmentally sustainable and socially responsible Amazon Siempre bonds project, to support Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

Second, in mitigation, we have to stay within the 1.5°C safety limit. In other words, global emissions should peak in 2025, and then fall sharply in the remainder of the decade.

To this end, there are three essential measures that must be implemented simultaneously: tripling renewable energy generation capacity by 2030, doubling energy efficiency targets within the same decade; and ending the production and consumption of fossil fuels for energy.

We have technologies to rethink energy infrastructures and meet these objectives.

To this effect, my country, Spain has already increased its commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 56%, and has set the target for renewable energy in electricity generation to 81%, with the goal of closing our last coal-fired power plant by 2025.

And last, on adaptation and resilience, we need to make the Paris Agreement target operational and measurable. We need to explore ways to enhance and also to adapt, beyond our national plans.

In this regard, Spain supports the Secretary General's initiatives to have Early Warning Systems for All and his Adaptation Project Portfolio Accelerator. I conclude by saying, Your Excellencies, that our collective progress shows that we still have a chance to save the planet. But we have to raise our ambition, our commitment. And I believe that this is within humanity's reach.

I will finish here and thank you very much.

(Transcript edited by the State Secretariat for Communication)

Original speech in Spanish

Non official translation