english speech climate change

Read Greta Thunberg's full speech at the United Nations Climate Action Summit

Teen environmental activist Greta Thunberg spoke at the United Nations on Monday about climate change, accusing world leaders of inaction and half-measures.

Here are her full remarks:

My message is that we'll be watching you.

This is all wrong. I shouldn't be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet, you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you!

You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words and yet I'm one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairytales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!

For more than 30 years, the science has been crystal clear. How dare you continue to look away and come here saying that you're doing enough when the politics and solutions needed are still nowhere in sight.

You say you hear us and that you understand the urgency, but no matter how sad and angry I am, I do not want to believe that. Because if you really understood the situation and still kept on failing to act then you would be evil and that I refuse to believe.

The popular idea of cutting our emissions in half in 10 years only gives us a 50 percent chance of staying below 1.5 degrees and the risk of setting off irreversible chain reactions beyond human control.

Fifty percent may be acceptable to you, but those numbers do not include tipping points, most feedback loops, additional warming hidden by toxic air pollution or the aspects of equity and climate justice.

They also rely on my generation sucking hundreds of billions of tons of your CO2 out of the air with technologies that barely exist.

So a 50 percent risk is simply not acceptable to us, we who have to live with the consequences.

How dare you pretend that this can be solved with just business as usual and some technical solutions? With today's emissions levels, that remaining CO2 budget will be entirely gone within less than eight and a half years.

There will not be any solutions or plans presented in line with these figures here today, because these numbers are too uncomfortable and you are still not mature enough to tell it like it is.

You are failing us, but the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you and if you choose to fail us, I say: We will never forgive you.

We will not let you get away with this. Right here, right now is where we draw the line. The world is waking up and change is coming, whether you like it or not.

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Four Powerful Climate Change Speeches to Inspire You

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Looking to be inspired to take action on climate change? Watch these four powerful climate change speeches, and get ready to change the world.

Climate change is the most pressing concern facing us and our planet. As such, we need powerful action, and fast, from both global leaders and global corporations, right down to individuals.

I’ve got over 70 climate change and sustainability quotes to motivate people and inspire climate action. But if it is more than quotes you need then watch these four impassioned climate change speeches. These speeches are particularly good if you are looking for even more inspiration to inspire others to take climate action.

The Sustainability Speeches To Motivate You

Here are the speeches to know – I’ve included a video of each speech plus a transcript to make it easy to get all the information you need. Use the quick links to jump to a specific speech or keep scrolling to see all the speeches.

Greta Thunberg’s Climate Change Speech at the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit

Leonardo dicaprio’s climate change speech at the 2014 un climate summit, yeb sano’s climate change speech at the united nations climate summit in warsaw, greta thunberg’s speech at houses of parliament.

In September 2019 climate activist Greta Thunberg addressed the U.N.’s Climate Action Summit in New York City with this inspiring climate change speech:

Here’s the full transcript of Greta Thunberg’s climate change speech. It begins with Greta’s response to a question about the message she has for world leaders.

My message is that we’ll be watching you.

This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you!

You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!

For more than 30 years, the science has been crystal clear. How dare you continue to look away and come here saying that you’re doing enough when the politics and solutions needed are still nowhere in sight.

You say you hear us and that you understand the urgency. But no matter how sad and angry I am, I do not want to believe that. Because if you really understood the situation and still kept on failing to act, then you would be evil. And that I refuse to believe.

The popular idea of cutting our emissions in half in 10 years only gives us a 50% chance of staying below 1.5°C, and the risk of setting off irreversible chain reactions beyond human control.

Fifty per cent may be acceptable to you. But those numbers do not include tipping points, most feedback loops, additional warming hidden by toxic air pollution or the aspects of equity and climate justice. They also rely on my generation sucking hundreds of billions of tons of your CO 2 out of the air with technologies that barely exist.

So a 50% risk is simply not acceptable to us — we who have to live with the consequences.

To have a 67% chance of staying below a 1.5°C global temperature rise – the best odds given by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – the world had 420 gigatons of CO 2 left to emit back on January 1st, 2018. Today that figure is already down to less than 350 gigatons.

How dare you pretend that this can be solved with just ‘business as usual’ and some technical solutions? With today’s emissions levels, that remaining CO 2 budget will be entirely gone within less than 8 and a half years.

There will not be any solutions or plans presented in line with these figures here today, because these numbers are too uncomfortable. And you are still not mature enough to tell it like it is.

You are failing us. But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say: We will never forgive you.

We will not let you get away with this. Right here, right now is where we draw the line. The world is waking up. And change is coming, whether you like it or not.

Leonardo DiCaprio gave an impassioned climate change speech at the 2014 UN Climate Summit. Watch it now:

Here’s a transcript of Leonardo DiCaprio’s climate change speech in case you’re looking to quote any part of it.

Thank you, Mr Secretary General, your excellencies, ladies and gentleman, and distinguished guests. I’m honoured to be here today, I stand before you not as an expert but as a concerned citizen. One of the 400,000 people who marched in the streets of New York on Sunday, and the billions of others around the world who want to solve our climate crisis.

As an actor, I pretend for a living. I play fictitious characters often solving fictitious problems.

I believe humankind has looked at climate change in that same way. As if it were fiction, happening to someone else’s planet, as if pretending that climate change wasn’t real would somehow make it go away.

But I think we know better than that. Every week, we’re seeing new and undeniable climate events, evidence that accelerated climate change is here now .  We know that droughts are intensifying.  Our oceans are warming and acidifying, with methane plumes rising up from beneath the ocean floor. We are seeing extreme weather events, increased temperatures, and the West Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets melting at unprecedented rates, decades ahead of scientific projections.

None of this is rhetoric, and none of it is hysteria. It is fact. The scientific community knows it. Industry and governments know it. Even the United States military knows it. The chief of the US Navy’s Pacific Command, Admiral Samuel Locklear, recently said that climate change is our single greatest security threat.

My friends, this body – perhaps more than any other gathering in human history – now faces that difficult task. You can make history or be vilified by it.

To be clear, this is not about just telling people to change their light bulbs or to buy a hybrid car. This disaster has grown BEYOND the choices that individuals make. This is now about our industries, and governments around the world taking decisive, large-scale action.

I am not a scientist, but I don’t need to be. Because the world’s scientific community has spoken, and they have given us our prognosis. If we do not act together, we will surely perish.

Now is our moment for action.

We need to put a price tag on carbon emissions and eliminate government subsidies for coal, gas, and oil companies. We need to end the free ride that industrial polluters have been given in the name of a free-market economy. They don’t deserve our tax dollars, they deserve our scrutiny. For the economy itself will die if our ecosystems collapse.

The good news is that renewable energy is not only achievable but good economic policy. New research shows that by 2050 clean, renewable energy could supply 100% of the world’s energy needs using existing technologies, and it would create millions of jobs.

This is not a partisan debate; it is a human one. Clean air and water, and a livable climate are inalienable human rights. And solving this crisis is not a question of politics. It is our moral obligation – if, admittedly, a daunting one.

We only get one planet. Humankind must become accountable on a massive scale for the wanton destruction of our collective home. Protecting our future on this planet depends on the conscious evolution of our species.

This is the most urgent of times, and the most urgent of messages.

Honoured delegates, leaders of the world, I pretend for a living. But you do not. The people made their voices heard on Sunday around the world and the momentum will not stop. And now it’s YOUR turn, the time to answer the greatest challenge of our existence on this planet is now.

I beg you to face it with courage. And honesty. Thank you.

The Philippines’ lead negotiator  Yeb Sano  addressed the opening session of the UN climate summit in Warsaw in November 2013. In this emotional and powerful climate change speech he called for urgent action to prevent a repeat of the devastating storm that hit parts of the Philippines:

Transcript of Yeb’s Climate Change Speech

Here’s a transcript of Yeb’s climate change speech:

Mr President, I have the honour to speak on behalf of the resilient people of the Republic of the Philippines.

At the onset, allow me to fully associate my delegation with the statement made by the distinguished Ambassador of the Republic of Fiji, on behalf of G77 and China as well as the statement made by Nicaragua on behalf of the Like-Minded Developing Countries.

First and foremost, the people of the Philippines, and our delegation here for the United Nations Climate Change Convention’s 19 th  Conference of the Parties here in Warsaw, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you for your expression of sympathy to my country in the face of this national difficulty.

In the midst of this tragedy, the delegation of the Philippines is comforted by the warm hospitality of Poland, with your people offering us warm smiles everywhere we go. Hotel staff and people on the streets, volunteers and personnel within the National Stadium have warmly offered us kind words of sympathy. So, thank you Poland.

The arrangements you have made for this COP is also most excellent and we highly appreciate the tremendous effort you have put into the preparations for this important gathering.

We also thank all of you, friends and colleagues in this hall and from all corners of the world as you stand beside us in this difficult time.

I thank all countries and governments who have extended your solidarity and for offering assistance to the Philippines.

I thank the youth present here and the billions of young people around the world who stand steadfastly behind my delegation and who are watching us shape their future.

I thank civil society, both who are working on the ground as we race against time in the hardest-hit areas, and those who are here in Warsaw prodding us to have a sense of urgency and ambition.

We are deeply moved by this manifestation of human solidarity. This outpouring of support proves to us that as a human race, we can unite; that as a species, we care.

It was barely 11 months ago in Doha when my delegation appealed to the world… to open our eyes to the stark reality that we face… as then we confronted a catastrophic storm that resulted in the costliest disaster in Philippine history.

Less than a year hence, we cannot imagine that a disaster much bigger would come. With an apparent cruel twist of fate, my country is being tested by this hellstorm called Super Typhoon Haiyan, which has been described by experts as the strongest typhoon that has ever made landfall in the course of recorded human history.

It was so strong that if there was a Category 6, it would have fallen squarely in that box. Up to this hour, we remain uncertain as to the full extent of the devastation, as information trickles in an agonisingly slow manner because electricity lines and communication lines have been cut off and may take a while before these are restored.

The initial assessment shows that Haiyan left a wake of massive devastation that is unprecedented, unthinkable, and horrific, affecting 2/3 of the Philippines, with about half a million people now rendered homeless, and with scenes reminiscent of the aftermath of a tsunami, with a vast wasteland of mud and debris and dead bodies.

According to satellite estimates, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also estimated that Haiyan achieved a minimum pressure between around 860 mbar (hPa; 25.34 inHg) and the Joint Typhoon Warning Center estimated Haiyan to have attained one-minute sustained winds of 315 km/h (195 mph) and gusts up to 378 km/h (235 mph) making it the strongest typhoon in modern recorded history.

Despite the massive efforts that my country had exerted in preparing for the onslaught of this monster of a storm, it was just a force too powerful, and even as a nation familiar with storms, Super Typhoon Haiyan was nothing we have ever experienced before, or perhaps nothing that any country has every experienced before.

The picture in the aftermath is ever so slowly coming into clearer focus. The devastation is colossal. And as if this is not enough, another storm is brewing again in the warm waters of the western Pacific. I shudder at the thought of another typhoon hitting the same places where people have not yet even managed to begin standing up.

To anyone who continues to deny the reality that is climate change, I dare you to get off your ivory tower and away from the comfort of your armchair.

I dare you to go to the islands of the Pacific, the islands of the Caribbean and the islands of the Indian Ocean and see the impacts of rising sea levels; to the mountainous regions of the Himalayas and the Andes to see communities confronting glacial floods, to the Arctic where communities grapple with the fast dwindling polar ice caps, to the large deltas of the Mekong, the Ganges, the Amazon, and the Nile where lives and livelihoods are drowned, to the hills of Central America that confront similar monstrous hurricanes, to the vast savannahs of Africa where climate change has likewise become a matter of life and death as food and water becomes scarce.

Not to forget the massive hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico and the eastern seaboard of North America. And if that is not enough, you may want to pay a visit to the Philippines right now.

The science has given us a picture that has become much more in focus. The IPCC report on climate change and extreme events underscored the risks associated with changes in the patterns as well as the frequency of extreme weather events.

Science tells us that simply, climate change will mean more intense tropical storms. As the Earth warms up, that would include the oceans. The energy that is stored in the waters off the Philippines will increase the intensity of typhoons and the trend we now see is that more destructive storms will be the new norm.

This will have profound implications on many of our communities, especially who struggle against the twin challenges of the development crisis and the climate change crisis. Typhoons such as Yolanda (Haiyan) and its impacts represent a sobering reminder to the international community that we cannot afford to procrastinate on climate action. Warsaw must deliver on enhancing ambition and should muster the political will to address climate change.

In Doha, we asked, “If not us then who? If not now, then when? If not here, then where?” (borrowed from Philippine student leader Ditto Sarmiento during Martial Law). It may have fell on deaf ears. But here in Warsaw, we may very well ask these same forthright questions. “If not us, then who? If not now, then when? If not here in Warsaw, where?”

What my country is going through as a result of this extreme climate event is madness. The climate crisis is madness.

We can stop this madness. Right here in Warsaw.

It is the 19 th  COP, but we might as well stop counting because my country refuses to accept that a COP30 or a COP40 will be needed to solve climate change.

And because it seems that despite the significant gains we have had since the UNFCCC was born, 20 years hence we continue to fail in fulfilling the ultimate objective of the Convention. 

Now, we find ourselves in a situation where we have to ask ourselves – can we ever attain the objective set out in Article 2 – which is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system? By failing to meet the objective of the Convention, we may have ratified the doom of vulnerable countries.

And if we have failed to meet the objective of the Convention, we have to confront the issue of loss and damage.

Loss and damage from climate change is a reality today across the world. Developed country emissions reduction targets are dangerously low and must be raised immediately. But even if they were in line with the demand of reducing 40-50% below 1990 levels, we would still have locked-in climate change and would still need to address the issue of loss and damage.

We find ourselves at a critical juncture and the situation is such that even the most ambitious emissions reductions by developed countries, who should have been taking the lead in combatting climate change in the past two decades, will not be enough to avert the crisis.

It is now too late, too late to talk about the world being able to rely on Annex I countries to solve the climate crisis. We have entered a new era that demands global solidarity in order to fight climate change and ensure that the pursuit of sustainable human development remains at the fore of the global community’s efforts. This is why means of implementation for developing countries is ever more crucial.

It was the Secretary-general of the UN Conference on Environment and Development, Earth Summit, Rio de Janeiro, 1992, Maurice Strong who said that “History reminds us that what is not possible today, may be inevitable tomorrow.”

We cannot sit and stay helpless staring at this international climate stalemate. It is now time to take action. We need an emergency climate pathway.

I speak for my delegation. But more than that, I speak for the countless people who will no longer be able to speak for themselves after perishing from the storm. I also speak for those who have been orphaned by this tragedy. I also speak for the people now racing against time to save survivors and alleviate the suffering of the people affected by the disaster.

We can take drastic action now to ensure that we prevent a future where super typhoons are a way of life. Because we refuse, as a nation, to accept a future where super typhoons like Haiyan become a fact of life. We refuse to accept that running away from storms, evacuating our families, suffering the devastation and misery, having to count our dead, become a way of life. We simply refuse to.

We must stop calling events like these as natural disasters. It is not natural when people continue to struggle to eradicate poverty and pursue development and get battered by the onslaught of a monster storm now considered as the strongest storm ever to hit land. It is not natural when science already tells us that global warming will induce more intense storms. It is not natural when the human species has already profoundly changed the climate.

Disasters are never natural. They are the intersection of factors other than physical. They are the accumulation of the constant breach of economic, social, and environmental thresholds.

Most of the time disasters are a result of inequity and the poorest people of the world are at greatest risk because of their vulnerability and decades of maldevelopment, which I must assert is connected to the kind of pursuit of economic growth that dominates the world. The same kind of pursuit of so-called economic growth and unsustainable consumption that has altered the climate system.

Now, if you will allow me, to speak on a more personal note.

Super Typhoon Haiyan made landfall in my family’s hometown and the devastation is staggering. I struggle to find words even for the images that we see from the news coverage. I struggle to find words to describe how I feel about the losses and damages we have suffered from this cataclysm.

Up to this hour, I agonize while waiting for word as to the fate of my very own relatives. What gives me renewed strength and great relief was when my brother succeeded in communicating with us that he has survived the onslaught. In the last two days, he has been gathering bodies of the dead with his own two hands. He is hungry and weary as food supplies find it difficult to arrive in the hardest-hit areas.

We call on this COP to pursue work until the most meaningful outcome is in sight. Until concrete pledges have been made to ensure mobilisation of resources for the Green Climate Fund. Until the promise of the establishment of a loss and damage mechanism has been fulfilled. Until there is assurance on finance for adaptation. Until concrete pathways for reaching the committed 100 billion dollars have been made. Until we see real ambition on stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations. We must put the money where our mouths are.

This process under the UNFCCC has been called many names. It has been called a farce. It has been called an annual carbon-intensive gathering of useless frequent flyers. It has been called many names. But it has also been called “The Project To Save The Planet”. It has been called “Saving Tomorrow Today”. We can fix this. We can stop this madness. Right now. Right here, in the middle of this football field.

I call on you to lead us. And let Poland be forever known as the place we truly cared to stop this madness. Can humanity rise to the occasion? I still believe we can.

Finally, in April 2019, Greta spoke at the Houses of Parliament in the UK. Here she gave this powerful climate change speech to the UK’s political leaders:

Transcript of Greta’s Climate Change Speech

Here is the full transcript of Greta’s climate change speech:

My name is Greta Thunberg. I am 16 years old. I come from Sweden. And I speak on behalf of future generations.

I know many of you don’t want to listen to us – you say we are just children. But we’re only repeating the message of the united climate science.

Many of you appear concerned that we are wasting valuable lesson time, but I assure you we will go back to school the moment you start listening to science and give us a future. Is that really too much to ask?

In the year 2030, I will be 26 years old. My little sister Beata will be 23. Just like many of your own children or grandchildren. That is a great age, we have been told. When you have all of your life ahead of you. But I am not so sure it will be that great for us.

I was fortunate to be born in a time and place where everyone told us to dream big. I could become whatever I wanted to. I could live wherever I wanted to. People like me had everything we needed and more. Things our grandparents could not even dream of. We had everything we could ever wish for and yet now we may have nothing.

Now we probably don’t even have a future anymore.

Because that future was sold so that a small number of people could make unimaginable amounts of money. It was stolen from us every time you said that the sky was the limit and that you only live once.

You lied to us. You gave us false hope. You told us that the future was something to look forward to. And the saddest thing is that most children are not even aware of the fate that awaits us. We will not understand it until it’s too late. And yet we are the lucky ones. Those who will be affected the hardest are already suffering the consequences. But their voices are not heard.

Is my microphone on? Can you hear me?

Around the year 2030, 10 years 252 days and 10 hours away from now, we will be in a position where we set off an irreversible chain reaction beyond human control, that will most likely lead to the end of our civilisation as we know it. That is unless, in that time, permanent and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society have taken place, including a reduction of CO 2 emissions by at least 50%.

And please note that these calculations are depending on inventions that have not yet been invented at scale, inventions that are supposed to clear the atmosphere of astronomical amounts of carbon dioxide.

Furthermore, these calculations do not include unforeseen tipping points and feedback loops like the extremely powerful methane gas escaping from rapidly thawing arctic permafrost.

Nor do these scientific calculations include already locked-in warming hidden by toxic air pollution. Nor the aspect of equity – or climate justice – clearly stated throughout the Paris Agreement, which is absolutely necessary to make it work on a global scale.

We must also bear in mind that these are just calculations. Estimations. That means that these “points of no return” may occur a bit sooner or later than 2030. No one can know for sure. We can, however, be certain that they will occur approximately in these timeframes because these calculations are not opinions or wild guesses.

These projections are backed up by scientific facts, concluded by all nations through the IPCC. Nearly every single major national scientific body around the world unreservedly supports the work and findings of the IPCC.

Did you hear what I just said? Is my English OK? Is the microphone on? Because I’m beginning to wonder.

During the last six months, I have travelled around Europe for hundreds of hours in trains, electric cars, and buses, repeating these life-changing words over and over again. But no one seems to be talking about it, and nothing has changed. In fact, the emissions are still rising.

When I have been travelling around to speak in different countries, I am always offered help to write about the specific climate policies in specific countries. But that is not really necessary. Because the basic problem is the same everywhere. And the basic problem is that basically nothing is being done to halt – or even slow – climate and ecological breakdown, despite all the beautiful words and promises.

The UK is, however, very special. Not only for its mind-blowing historical carbon debt but also for its current, very creative, carbon accounting.

Since 1990 the UK has achieved a 37% reduction of its territorial CO 2 emissions, according to the Global Carbon Project. And that does sound very impressive. But these numbers do not include emissions from aviation, shipping, and those associated with imports and exports. If these numbers are included the reduction is around 10% since 1990 – or an average of 0.4% a year, according to Tyndall Manchester. And the main reason for this reduction is not a consequence of climate policies, but rather a 2001 EU directive on air quality that essentially forced the UK to close down its very old and extremely dirty coal power plants and replace them with less dirty gas power stations. And switching from one disastrous energy source to a slightly less disastrous one will of course result in a lowering of emissions.

But perhaps the most dangerous misconception about the climate crisis is that we have to “lower” our emissions. Because that is far from enough.

Our emissions have to stop if we are to stay below 1.5-2 ° C of warming. The “lowering of emissions” is of course necessary but it is only the beginning of a fast process that must lead to a stop within a couple of decades or less. And by “stop” I mean net-zero – and then quickly on to negative figures. That rules out most of today’s politics.

The fact that we are speaking of “lowering” instead of “stopping” emissions is perhaps the greatest force behind the continuing business as usual. The UK’s active current support of new exploitation of fossil fuels – for example, the UK shale gas fracking industry, the expansion of its North Sea oil and gas fields, the expansion of airports as well as the planning permission for a brand new coal mine – is beyond absurd.

This ongoing irresponsible behaviour will no doubt be remembered in history as one of the greatest failures of humankind.

People always tell me and the other millions of school strikers that we should be proud of ourselves for what we have accomplished. But the only thing that we need to look at is the emission curve. And I’m sorry, but it’s still rising. That curve is the only thing we should look at.

Every time we make a decision we should ask ourselves; how will this decision affect that curve? We should no longer measure our wealth and success in the graph that shows economic growth, but in the curve that shows the emissions of greenhouse gases. We should no longer only ask: “Have we got enough money to go through with this?” but also: “Have we got enough of the carbon budget to spare to go through with this?” That should and must become the centre of our new currency.

Many people say that we don’t have any solutions to the climate crisis. And they are right. Because how could we? How do you “solve” the greatest crisis that humanity has ever faced? How do you “solve” a war? How do you “solve” going to the moon for the first time? How do you “solve” inventing new inventions?

The climate crisis is both the easiest and the hardest issue we have ever faced. The easiest because we know what we must do. We must stop the emissions of greenhouse gases. The hardest because our current economics are still totally dependent on burning fossil fuels, and thereby destroying ecosystems in order to create everlasting economic growth.

“So, exactly how do we solve that?” you ask us – the schoolchildren striking for the climate.

And we say: “No one knows for sure. But we have to stop burning fossil fuels and restore nature and many other things that we may not have quite figured out yet.”

Then you say: “That’s not an answer!”

So we say: “We have to start treating the crisis like a crisis – and act even if we don’t have all the solutions.”

“That’s still not an answer,” you say.

Then we start talking about circular economy and rewilding nature and the need for a just transition. Then you don’t understand what we are talking about.

We say that all those solutions needed are not known to anyone and therefore we must unite behind the science and find them together along the way. But you do not listen to that. Because those answers are for solving a crisis that most of you don’t even fully understand. Or don’t want to understand.

You don’t listen to the science because you are only interested in solutions that will enable you to carry on like before. Like now. And those answers don’t exist anymore. Because you did not act in time.

Avoiding climate breakdown will require cathedral thinking. We must lay the foundation while we may not know exactly how to build the ceiling.

Sometimes we just simply have to find a way. The moment we decide to fulfil something, we can do anything. And I’m sure that the moment we start behaving as if we were in an emergency, we can avoid climate and ecological catastrophe. Humans are very adaptable: we can still fix this. But the opportunity to do so will not last for long. We must start today. We have no more excuses.

We children are not sacrificing our education and our childhood for you to tell us what you consider is politically possible in the society that you have created. We have not taken to the streets for you to take selfies with us, and tell us that you really admire what we do.

We children are doing this to wake the adults up. We children are doing this for you to put your differences aside and start acting as you would in a crisis. We children are doing this because we want our hopes and dreams back.

I hope my microphone was on. I hope you could all hear me.

Hopefully, these climate change speeches will encourage you to take action in your local community. If you need more inspiration then head to my post on the best TED Talks on climate change , my guide to the best YouTube videos on climate change , and the sustainability poems to inspire you.

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Wendy Graham is a sustainability expert and the founder of Moral Fibres, where's she's written hundreds of articles on since starting the site in 2013. She's dedicated to bringing you sustainability advice you can trust.

Wendy holds a BSc (Hons) in Environmental Geography and an MSc (with Distinction) in Environmental Sustainability - specialising in environmental education.

As well as this, Wendy brings 17 years of professional experience working in the sustainability sector to the blog.

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Read climate activist Greta Thunberg’s speech to the UN

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg chastised world leaders Monday for failing younger generations by not taking sufficient steps to stop climate change.

“You have stolen my childhood and my dreams with your empty words,” Thunberg said at the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York.

Thunberg traveled to the U.S. by sailboat last month so she could appear at the summit. She and other youth activists led international climate strikes on Friday in an attempt to garner awareness ahead of the UN’s meeting of political and business leaders.

Read Greta Thunberg’s speech below:

This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you?

You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words, and yet I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering, people are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairytales of eternal economic growth. How dare you?

For more than 30 years, the science has been crystal clear. How dare you continue to look away and come here saying that you’re doing enough when the politics and solutions needed are still nowhere in sight? You say you hear us and that you understand the urgency, but no matter how sad and angry I am, I do not want to believe that. Because if you really understood the situation and still kept on failing to act, then you would be evil and that I refuse to believe.

The popular idea of cutting our emissions in half in ten years only gives us a 50 percent chance of staying below 1.5 degrees and the risk of setting up irreversible chain reactions beyond human control. Fifty percent may be acceptable to you, but those numbers do not include tipping points most feedback loops, additional warming hidden by toxic air pollution, or the aspects of equity and climate justice.

They also rely on my generation sucking hundreds of billions of tons of your CO2 out of the air with technologies that barely exist. So a 50 percent risk is simply not acceptable to us. We who have to live with the consequences. To have a 67 percent chance of staying below the 1.5 degree of temperature rise, the best odds given by the IPCC, the world had 420 gigatons of CO2 left to emit back on January 1, 2018.

Today that figure is already down to less than 350 gigatons. How dare you pretend that this can be solved with just business as usual and some technical solutions? With today’s emissions levels, that remaining CO2 that entire budget will be gone is less than 8 and a half years. There will not be any solutions or plans presented in line with these figures here today because these numbers are too uncomfortable and you are still not mature enough to tell it like it is.

You are failing us, but young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say we will never forgive you. We will not let you get away with this, right here, right now, is where we draw the line. The world is waking up, and change is coming whether you like it or not.

Gretchen Frazee is a Senior Coordinating Broadcast Producer for the PBS NewsHour.

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Nov 11, 2021

UN Secretary General COP26 Speech Transcript: “We Know What Must Be Done”

UN Secretary General António Guterres gave a speech at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow on November 11, 2021. Read the transcript of the full speech here.

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António Guterres: ( 00:01 ) Colleagues, friends, this event, perhaps like no other at COP26, underscores a core truth, that climate action struggle requires all hands on deck. It is everyone’s responsibility and you are showing the way. I am inspired by the mobilization of civil society, by the moral voice of young people keeping our feet to the fire, by the dynamism and the example of Indigenous communities, by the tireless engagement of women’s groups, by the action of more and more cities around the world, by a growing consciousness as the private sector aligns balance sheets and investment decisions around net zero.

António Guterres: ( 00:51 ) I thank the High-Level Climate Action Champions, Gonzalo Muñoz and Nigel Topping, and so many others for your efforts. You are indeed racing to a better world, and governments need to pick up the pace and show the necessary ambition on mitigation, adaptation, and finance in a balanced way. We cannot settle for the lowest common denominators. We know what must be done. Keeping the 1.5 goal within reach means reducing emissions globally by 45% by 2030, but the present set of nationally-determined contributions, even if fully implemented, would still increase emissions by 2030.

António Guterres: ( 01:39 ) According to the latest joint analysis of the nationally-determined contributions by UNAP and UNFCCC, we remain on a catastrophic temperature rise track, well above two degrees Celsius. Net zero pledges require rapid sustained emissions cuts this second, and I welcome the recognition of this fact in yesterday’s US-China corporation agreement, that I can see that an important step in the right direction. But promises ring hollow when the fossil fuels industry still receives trillions in subsidies, as measured by the IMF, or when countries are still building coal plants, or when carbon is still without a price by starting markets and investor decisions. Every country, every city, every company, every financial institution must radically, credibly, and verifiably reduce their emissions and decarbonize their portfolios starting now.

António Guterres: ( 02:42 ) Dear friends, while it’s far from enough …

António Guterres: ( 02:53 ) Dear friends, while far from enough, we can take stock of progress. Last week, a number of countries committed to working collectively to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030. Year two, we need meaningful concrete action and results in the 2020s. More than 1,000 cities around the world have committed to reach net zero by 2050 or earlier, sometimes far earlier. Our host city, Glasgow, has set a 2030 deadline. The Net Zero Asset Owners Alliance, the gold standard for credible commitment and transparent targets, is managing $10 trillion US dollars in assets and catalyzing change across industries. I encourage the much larger Glasgow finance alliance for net zero to follow the same path.

António Guterres: ( 03:46 ) The global coal pipeline has decreased by 76% since 2015. The G20, including the three largest public financers, have committed to ending overseas coal finance. 28 new members joined the Powering Past Coal Alliance, raising the membership to 165 countries, cities, regions, and businesses. 44 countries and 32 companies and regions have committed at COP26 to transition from coal to clean power, and this will be an enormous task.

António Guterres: ( 04:23 ) That is why I’ve been calling for the formation of coalitions of countries, international financial institutions, and private finance, as well as renewable energy companies to support this monumental shift and to organize coalitions in support of specific countries that need to speed their energy transition. Some certain member states and regional development banks have pledged the immediate support for the clean energy transition in countries, and I urge more financial institutions and investors to follow suit.

António Guterres: ( 04:57 ) I welcome the partnership that will allow South Africa to rapidly decommission its coal plants while ensuring that workers and communities are not left behind. Indonesia and Vietnam have pledged to phase out coal by 2040, they will need support. We need similar coalitions to deliver resilient infrastructure and adaptation in countries on the front lines of the climate crisis, from small island developing states to the least developed countries.

António Guterres: ( 05:29 ) Friends and colleagues, the announcements here in Glasgow are encouraging, but they are far from enough. The emissions gap remains a devastating threat. The finance and adaptation gap represent a glaring injustice for the developing worlds. We need even more ambition in future revised nationally-determined contributions and we need pledges to be implemented. We need commitments to turn concrete, we need actions to be verified, and we need to bridge the deep and real credibility gap.

António Guterres: ( 06:08 ) As an engineer, I know that durable structures need solid foundations. We must be able to measure progress and to adjust when off track. We have a critical mass of global commitments to net zero from both governments and non-state actors. We must now zoom in on the quality and implementation of plans, on measuring and analyzing, on reporting transparency and accountability. That is why, beyond the mechanism already set out in the Paris Agreement, I’ve decided to establish a high-level expert group to propose clear standards to measure and analyze net zero commitments from non-state actors.

António Guterres: ( 06:49 ) The high-level expert group will build on existing work and submit a series of recommendations to me during the course of next year. They will work in a transparent and inclusive manner, and I invite you all to cooperate fully in their establishment and then with them. We need action if commitments are to pass the credibility test. We need to hold each other accountable, governments, non-state actors and the civil society, because only together can we keep 1.5 degrees within reach and the equitable and resilient world we need.

António Guterres: ( 07:28 ) I thank you for your commitment and for your dedication to this, that is the most important fight of our lives.

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• Climate Change Speech/Global Warming Speech

Download Long and Short Climate Change Speech Essay in English Free PDF from Vedantu

Earth is the only planet which has variety in weather and climate crucial for survival.  But we humans are killing nature to fulfil our need and greed that causes global warming, eventually leading to climate change. Here, we have provided both long and short Climate Change speech or Global Warming speech along with 10 lines for a brief speech on Global Warming. Students can refer to this article whenever they are supposed to write a speech on Global Warming. 

Long Global Warming Speech

Global Warming refers to the Earth's warming, i.e. rise in the Earth's surface temperature. A variety of human activities, such as industrial pollution and the burning of fossil fuels, are responsible for this temperature rise. These operations emit gases that cause the greenhouse effect and, subsequently, global warming. Climate change, starvation, droughts, depletion of biodiversity, etc. are some of the most important consequences of global warming.

The average surface temperature of the planet has risen by around 0.8 ° Celsius since 1880. The rate of warming per decade has been around 0.15 °-0.2 ° Celsius. This is a worldwide shift in the temperature of the planet and should not be confused with the local changes we witness every day, day and night, summer and winter, etc.

There can be several causes for Global Warming, the GreenHouse Effect is believed to be the primary and major cause. This impact is caused primarily by gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, chlorofluorocarbon, nitrous oxides, etc. In the atmosphere around the Earth, these gases form a cover from which the Sun's hot rays can penetrate the Earth but can not leave. So, in the lower circle of the Earth, the heat of the Sun persists, allowing the temperature to increase.

This is not something new, it is not something we weren’t aware of before. Since childhood, each one of us present here has been made to write a speech on Global Warming in their school/college, at least once. We have been made aware of the disastrous effects through movies, articles, competitions, posters, etc. But what have we done? Recently, the Greta Thunberg's Climate Change speech was making headlines. Greta Thunberg is a 16-year-old teenager who got the chance to speak at the United Nations Climate Action Summit. Although, most of us were quick to term Greta Thunberg Climate Change speech as ‘Scathing’ but very few could point out the need for such a brutal reminder. Remember? “We have been made to write a speech on Global Warming since our school days and nothing changed”. Maybe a searing reminder would bring a change and yes, it sure did.

Now, we have the titanic fame, Leonardo DiCaprio, speaking up about climate change in his Oscar speech as well as at the UN. However, Leonardo Dicaprio's Climate Change speech makes us aware of the fact that this has grown beyond individual choices. If we have to fight climate change, industries and corporations have to take decisive large-scale action.

I would like to end my speech by saying that only spreading awareness isn't the answer. It's time to act, as actions yield results.

Short Speech on Global Warming

Today, I am here to deliver a short speech on Global Warming. We all are well aware of Global Warming and how it results in Climate Change. Owing to global warming, there have been cases of severe drought. Regions, where there used to be a lot of rainfall, are seeing less rainfall. The monsoon trend has shifted around the globe. Global warming also causes ice to melt and the level of the ocean to rise, resulting in floods.

Various species are also widely impacted by global warming. Some land organisms are very vulnerable to changes in temperature and environment and can not tolerate extreme conditions. Koalas, for example, are at risk of famine because of climate change. Several fish and tortoise species are susceptible to changes in ocean temperatures and die.

One of the biggest threats to global security is climate change. Climate change knows no borders and poses us all with an existential threat. A significant security consequence of climate change is a rise in the frequency of severe weather events, especially floods and storms. This has an effect on city and town facilities, access to drinking water, and other services to sustain everyday life. It also displaces the population and since 2008, disasters caused by natural hazards have displaced an average of 26.4 million people annually from their homes. 85% of these are weather-related. This is equal to every second of approximately one person displaced.

It is important that we finally stop debating about it. Schools need to stop making students write a speech on Global Warming or Climate Change and focus on making them capable of living a sustainable life. Face it with courage and honesty. 

10 Lines for Brief Speech on Global Warming

Here, we have provided 10 key pointers for Climate Change Speech for Students.

Global warming refers to the above-average temperature increase on Earth.

The primary cause of global warming is the Greenhouse effect.

Climate change is blamed for global warming, as it badly affects the environment.

The most critical and very important issue that no one can overlook is climate change; it is also spreading its leg in India.

India's average temperature has risen to 1.1 degrees Celsius in recent years.

Living creatures come out of their natural environment due to global warming, and eventually become extinct.

Climate change has contributed to weather pattern disruptions across the globe and has led to unusual shifts in the monsoon.

Human actions, apart from natural forces, have also led to this transition. Global warming leads to drastic climate change, leading to flooding, droughts and other climate catastrophes.

The pattern of monsoon winds is influenced by changes in global temperature and alters the time and intensity of rain. Unpredictable climate change impacts the nation's farming and production.

Planting more trees can be a positive step in eliminating the global warming problem.

What is Climate Change?

Climate change refers to alterations in Earth's climate, it has been happening since the planet was formed. The Climate is always changing. There are different factors that could contribute to Climate Change, including natural events and human activities.

Factors that cause Climate Change

The sun’s energy output

Volcanic eruptions

Earth’s orbit around the sun

Ocean currents

Land-use changes

Greenhouse gasses emissions from human activity

The most significant factor that contributes to Climate Change is greenhouse gasses emissions from human activity. These gasses form a “blanket” around Earth that traps energy from the sun. This trapped energy makes Earth warm and disturbs the Earth’s climate.

The Impact of Climate Change

Climate change is already happening. It is causing more extreme weather conditions, such as floods and droughts.

Climate change could lead to a loss of biodiversity, as plants and animals are unable to adapt to the changing climate.

Climate change could also cause humanitarian crises, as people are forced to migrate because of extreme weather conditions.

Climate change could damage economies, as businesses and industries have to cope with increased energy costs and disrupted supply chains.

Here are some Tips on How to write a Speech on Climate Change:

Start by doing your research. Climate change is a complex topic, and there's a lot of information out there on it. Make sure you understand the basics of climate change before you start writing your speech.

Write down what you want to say. It can be helpful to draft an outline of your speech before you start writing it in full. This will help ensure that your points are clear and organized.

Be passionate about the topic. Climate change is a serious issue, but that doesn't mean you can't talk about it with passion and enthusiasm. Let your audience know how important you think this issue is.

Make it personal. Climate change isn't just a political or scientific issue - it's something that affects each and every one of us. Talk about how climate change has affected you or your loved ones, and let your audience know why this issue matters to you.

Use visuals to help explain your points. A good speech on climate change can be filled with charts, graphs, and statistics. But don't forget to also use powerful images and stories to help illustrate your points.

Stay positive. Climate change can be a depressing topic, but try not to end your speech on a negative note. Instead, talk about the steps we can take to address climate change and the positive outcomes that could come from it.

Start by defining what climate change is. Climate change is a problem that refers to a broad array of environmental degradation caused by human activities, including the emission of greenhouse gasses.

Talk about the effects of climate change. Climate change has been linked to increased wildfires, more extreme weather events, coastal flooding, and reduced crop yields, among other things.

Offer solutions to climate change. Some solutions include reducing our reliance on fossil fuels, investing in renewable energy sources, and planting trees to help absorb carbon dioxide.

Appeal to your audience’s emotions. Climate change is a problem that affects everyone, and it’s important to get people emotionally invested in the issue.

Make sure your speech is well-organized and easy to follow. Climate change can be a complex topic, so make sure your speech is clear and concise.

FAQs on Climate Change Speech/Global Warming Speech

1. What should be the main focus of my speech? Can I use statistics in my speech?

The main focus of your speech should be on the effects of climate change and the solutions we can enact to address it. However, you can also talk about your personal connection to the issue or how climate change has affected your community. Yes, you can use statistics to support your points, but don’t forget to also use images and stories to help illustrate your points.

2. How much should I talk about the potential solutions to climate change?

You should spend roughly equal time discussing both the effects of climate change and potential solutions. Climate change is a complex issue, and it’s important to provide your audience with both the facts and potential solutions.

3. Can I talk about how climate change has personally affected me in my speech?

Yes, you can talk about how climate change has personally affected you or your loved ones. Climate change is a serious issue that affects everyone, so it’s important to get people emotionally invested in the issue.

4. Are there any other things I should keep in mind while preparing my speech?

Yes, make sure your speech is well-organized and easy to follow. Climate change can be a complex topic, so make sure your speech is clear and concise. Also, remember to appeal to your audience’s emotions and stay positive. Climate change can be a depressing topic, but try not to end your speech on a negative note. Instead, talk about the steps we can take to address climate change and the positive outcomes that could come from it.

5. Where can I find more information about preparing a speech on climate change?

The best place to start is by reading some of the reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). You can also find helpful resources on the websites of Climate Reality Project or Greenpeace.

6. How long should my speech be?

Your speech should be between 5 and 7 minutes in length. Any longer than that, and your audience will start to lose interest. Climate change can be a complex issue, so it’s important to keep your points brief and concise. If you need help organizing your speech, consider using the following outline:

Define what climate change is;

Talk about the effects of climate change;

Offer solutions to climate change;

Appeal to your audience’s emotions.

7. How can I download reading material from Vedantu?

Accessing material from Vedantu is extremely easy and student-friendly. Students have to simply visit the website of  Vedantu and create an account. Once you have created the account you can simply explore the subjects and chapters that you are looking for. Click on the download button available on the website on Vedantu to download the reading material in PDF format. You can also access all the resources by downloading the Vedantu app from the play store.

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The UN Secretary-General speaks on the state of the planet

On 2 December at Columbia University, the UN Secretary-General delivered a landmark speech on the state of the planet, setting the stage for dramatically scaled-up ambition on climate change over the coming year. See excerpts below, or download or watch the speech. More information here

The state of the planet is broken

Humanity is waging war on nature.

Nature always strikes back – and it is already doing so with growing force and fury. 

The fallout of the assault on our planet is impeding our efforts to eliminate poverty and imperiling food security.

And it is making our work for peace even more difficult, as the disruptions drive instability, displacement and conflict.

Make peace with nature

Nature needs a bailout. In overcoming the pandemic, we can also avert climate cataclysm and restore our planet.

The trillions of dollars needed for COVID recovery is money that we are borrowing from future generations. 

We cannot use those resources to lock in policies that burden them with a mountain of debt on a broken planet.

It is time to flick the “green switch”.  We have a chance to not simply reset the world economy but to transform it.

Start carbon neutrality, now

By early next year, countries representing more than 65 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions and more than 70 per cent of the world economy will have made ambitious commitments to carbon neutrality. 

We must turn this momentum into a movement. The central objective of the United Nations for 2021 is to build a truly Global Coalition for Carbon Neutrality. 

Every country, city, financial institution and company should adopt plans for transitioning to net zero emissions by 2050…(and take) decisive action now. 

Put global finance to work for climate

The commitments to net zero emissions are sending a clear signal to investors, markets and finance ministers. But we need to go further. 

It is time to put a price on carbon. To phase out fossil fuel finance and end fossil fuel subsidies. To stop building new coal power plants.

(It is time) to integrate the goal of carbon neutrality into all economic and fiscal policies and decisions. And to make climate-related financial risk disclosures mandatory.

Protect the most vulnerable

We are in a race against time to adapt to a rapidly changing climate.  

Adaptation must not be the forgotten component of climate action. We have both a moral imperative and a clear economic case for supporting developing countries to adapt and build resilience to current and future climate impacts.

The race to resilience is as important as the race to net zero.

Act with urgency – and hope

This is a moment of truth for people and planet alike. COVID and climate have brought us to a threshold.  

We cannot go back to the old normal of inequality, injustice and heedless dominion over the Earth. Instead we must step towards a safer, more sustainable and equitable path. The door is open; the solutions are there.

Now is the time to transform humankind’s relationship with the natural world – and with each other. And we must do so together.  

Solidarity is humanity. Solidarity is survival.

Climate action facts

• Warming beyond 1.5°C will substantially increase the risk of global species extinctions.
• The ocean is already warmer, more acidic and less productive.
• Around 7 million people die every year from exposure to polluted air.
• Nature-based solutions could provide one third of net reductions in greenhouse gas emissions required to meet Paris Agreement goals.
• Bold climate action could deliver $26 trillion in economic benefits by 2030.
• Renewable energy is getting cheaper all the time.
• Switching to a clean economy could produce over 65 million new low-carbon jobs.
• An investment of $1.8 trillion from 2020 to 2030 in adaptation could generate $7.1 trillion in total net benefits.

Learn more, act more

The Production Gap Report

The world must cut fossil fuel production by 6 per cent per year to avoid the worst of global warming. Instead, countries are projecting an average annual increase of 2 per cent. Those are among the sobering findings of the latest Production Gap Report, issued by leading research organizations and the United Nations. The report urges making COVID-19 recovery a turning point, where countries should steer investments into changing course to avoid “locking in” dependence on polluting coal, oil and gas.

State of the Global Climate in 2020

The Emissions Gap Report on needed emissions cuts. 2020 will likely be one of three warmest years on record, according to the provisional 2020 WMO State of the Global Climate report. Ocean heat is at record levels. Extreme heat, wildfires and floods, as well as a record-breaking Atlantic hurricane season, have affected millions of people. Climate impacts are compounding threats to human health, security and economic stability posed by COVID-19. Even with pandemic lockdowns slowing economic activity, atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases continued to rise.

Every one of us can help limit global warming and take care of our planet. By changing our habits and making choices that have less harmful effects on the environment, we have the power to confront the climate challenge and build a more sustainable world. Learn what you can do to stop climate change.

Facts and figures

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Cutting emissions

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Clean energy

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UN Secretary-General landmark speech on climate action, 2 December, 2020

UN chief António Guterres had a dire warning message for the world at Columbia University in New York on Wednesday, urging humanity to end the war against nature which has seen a collapse in biodiversity, record global warming and ocean temperature rises, and a global pandemic.

But he also said there was plenty of room for hope that a new, sustainable world can emerge from the pandemic, and an international coaltion of nations commited to net neutrality, by 2050. Here's his concluding remarks as he makes climate action the UN's top priority for the 21st Century.

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Transcript: Greta Thunberg's Speech At The U.N. Climate Action Summit

Climate activist Greta Thunberg, 16, addressed the U.N.'s Climate Action Summit in New York City on Monday. Here's the full transcript of Thunberg's speech, beginning with her response to a question about the message she has for world leaders.

"My message is that we'll be watching you.

"This is all wrong. I shouldn't be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you!

"You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I'm one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!

'This Is All Wrong,' Greta Thunberg Tells World Leaders At U.N. Climate Session

"For more than 30 years, the science has been crystal clear. How dare you continue to look away and come here saying that you're doing enough, when the politics and solutions needed are still nowhere in sight.

"You say you hear us and that you understand the urgency. But no matter how sad and angry I am, I do not want to believe that. Because if you really understood the situation and still kept on failing to act, then you would be evil. And that I refuse to believe.

"The popular idea of cutting our emissions in half in 10 years only gives us a 50% chance of staying below 1.5 degrees [Celsius], and the risk of setting off irreversible chain reactions beyond human control.

"Fifty percent may be acceptable to you. But those numbers do not include tipping points, most feedback loops, additional warming hidden by toxic air pollution or the aspects of equity and climate justice. They also rely on my generation sucking hundreds of billions of tons of your CO2 out of the air with technologies that barely exist.

"So a 50% risk is simply not acceptable to us — we who have to live with the consequences.

"To have a 67% chance of staying below a 1.5 degrees global temperature rise – the best odds given by the [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] – the world had 420 gigatons of CO2 left to emit back on Jan. 1st, 2018. Today that figure is already down to less than 350 gigatons.

"How dare you pretend that this can be solved with just 'business as usual' and some technical solutions? With today's emissions levels, that remaining CO2 budget will be entirely gone within less than 8 1/2 years.

"There will not be any solutions or plans presented in line with these figures here today, because these numbers are too uncomfortable. And you are still not mature enough to tell it like it is.

"You are failing us. But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say: We will never forgive you.

"We will not let you get away with this. Right here, right now is where we draw the line. The world is waking up. And change is coming, whether you like it or not.

"Thank you."

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Remarks by President   Biden at the Virtual Leaders Summit on Climate Opening   Session

8:07 A.M. EDT   THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, Madam Vice President.   Good morning to all of our colleagues around the world — the world leaders who are taking part in this summit.  I thank you.  You know, your leadership on this issue is a statement to the people of your nation and to the people of every nation, especially our young people, that we’re ready to meet this moment.  And meeting this moment is about more than preserving our planet; it’s also about providing a better future for all of us.    That’s why, when people talk about climate, I think jobs.  Within our climate response lies an extraordinary engine of job creation and economic opportunity ready to be fired up.  That’s why I’ve proposed a huge investment in American infrastructure and American innovation to tap the economic opportunity that climate change presents our workers and our communities, especially those too often that have — left out and left behind.    I’d like to buil- — I want to build a — a critical infrastructure to produce and deploy clean technology — both those we can harness today and those that we’ll invent tomorrow.   I talked to the experts, and I see the potential for a more prosperous and equitable future.  The signs are unmistakable.  The science is undeniable.  But the cost of inaction is — keeps mounting.    The United States isn’t waiting.  We are resolving to take action — not only the — our federal government, but our cities and our states all across our country; small businesses, large businesses, large corporations; American workers in every field.    I see an opportunity to create millions of good-paying, middle-class, union jobs.    I see line workers laying thousands of miles of transmission lines for a clean, modern, resilient grid.    I see workers capping hundreds of thousands of abandoned oil and gas wells that need to be cleaned up, and abandoned coalmines that need to be reclaimed, putting a stop to the methane leaks and protecting the health of our communities.    I see autoworkers building the next generation of electric vehicles, and electricians installing nationwide for 500,000 charging stations along our highways.    I see engine- — the engineers and the construction workers building new carbon capture and green hydrogen plants to forge cleaner steel and cement and produce clean power.    I see farmers deploying cutting-edge tools to make soil of our — of our Heartland the next frontier in carbon innovation.    By maintaining those investments and putting these people to work, the United States sets out on the road to cut greenhouse gases in half — in half by the end of this decade.  That’s where we’re headed as a nation, and that’s what we can do if we take action to build an economy that’s not only more prosperous, but healthier, fairer, and cleaner for the entire planet.    You know, these steps will set America on a path of net-zero emissions economy by no later than 2050.  But the truth is, America represents less than 15 percent of the world’s emissions.  No nation can solve this crisis on our own, as I know you all fully understand.  All of us, all of us — and particularly those of us who represent the world’s largest economies — we have to step up.    You know, those that do take action and make bold investments in their people and clean energy future will win the good jobs of tomorrow, and make their economies more resilient and more competitive.    So let’s run that race; win more — win more sustainable future than we have now; overcome the existential crisis of our times.  We know just how critically important that is because scientists tell us that this is the decisive decade.  This is the decade we must make decisions that will avoid the worst consequences of a climate crisis.  We must try to keep the Earth’s temperature and — to an increase of — to 1.5 degrees Celsius.    You know, the world beyond 1.5 degrees means more frequent and intense fires, floods, droughts, heat waves, and hurricanes tearing through communities, ripping away lives and livelihoods, increasingly dire impacts to our public health.   It’s undeniable and undevi- — you know, the idea of accelerating and the reality that will come if we don’t move.  We can’t resign ourselves to that future.  We have to take action, all of us.    And this summit is our first step on the road we’ll travel together — God willing, all of us — to and through Glasgow this November and the U.N. Climate Conference — the Climate Change Conf- — Conference, you know, to set our world on a path to a secure, prosperous, and sustainable future.  The health of communities throughout the world depends on it.  The wellbeing of our workers depends on it.  The strength of our economies depends on it.    The countries that take decisive action now to create the industries of the future will be the ones that reap the economic benefits of the clean energy boom that’s coming.   You know, we’re here at this summit to discuss how each of us, each country, can set higher climate ambitions that will in turn create good-paying jobs, advance innovative technologies, and help vulnerable countries adapt to climate impacts.   We have to move.  We have to move quickly to meet these challenges.  The steps our countries take between now and Glasgow will set the world up for success to protect livelihoods around the world and keep global warming at a maximum of 1.5 degrees Celsius.  We must get on the path now in order to do that.    If we do, we’ll breathe easier, literally and figuratively; we’ll create good jobs here at home for millions of Americans; and lay a strong foundation for growth for the future.  And — and that — that can be your goal as well.  This is a moral imperative, an economic imperative, a moment of peril but also a moment of extraordinary possibilities.    Time is short, but I believe we can do this.  And I believe that we will do this.    Thank you for being part of the summit.  Thank you for the communities that you — and the commitments you have made, the communities you’re from.  God bless you all.    And I look forward to progress that we can make together today and beyond.  We really have no choice.  We have to get this done.   8:14 A.M. EDT

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• Speech Writing /

Speech on Climate Change For Students

• Updated on  
• Dec 18, 2023

How do you feel when covered completely overhead? It must be suffocating, and in the meanwhile, due to the scale down of oxygen, your brain, after some time, will stop responding due to a deep state of unconsciousness. 

The above situation was just an example to describe the trapping of carbon dioxide. Imagine what will happen if our environment gets trapped with harmful gasses and inhaling oxygen comes with no options. All such adverse effects of climate change can be hazardous for all living beings.

As a burning topic of the current scenario, we will discuss this burning climate change speech for students.

Also Read: Essay on Climate Change

Long Speech On Climate Change

Greetings to all the teachers and students gathered here. Today, I stand before you to address a matter of urgency and global significance—Climate Change. In my climate change speech, I have tried to cover relevant facts, figures, adverse effects and, importantly, how to save our environment from climate change. 

Also Read: Essay on Global Warming 

As per data studies by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), there is a continuous increase in global temperature with a comprehensive rise. Hazardous situations of this increase in temperature will follow up in the coming years, too, which is again an unfortunate signal.

Earth signals, which are constant by nature and cannot be reverted, are increasing. 

The rise in drought, floods, wildfires, and utmost rainfall continuously reflects the signals that are not sound indicators. Again, if we talk about numbers and statistics, the sixth Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report warned humans about heat-trapping figures of nearly 2 degrees Fahrenheit (1.1 degrees Celsius) from 1850 to 1900. 

Moreover, the body has warned about the expected reach or exceed 1.5 degrees C (about 3 degrees F) within the next few decades.

Now here comes a question, what has led to such an adverse situation? 

Natural reasons such as pollen remains, glacier lengths, ocean sediments and more are some of the naturally occurring processes that contribute a little portion to climate change. But the major contributor to this worst condition, after an industrial revolution, is only created by human activities. 

Regular cutting of forests or deforestation, burning of fossil fuels for releasing energy, regular use of fertilizers in agriculture, and livestock farming are some of the major reasons for climate change in the environment. 

Despite all the adverse effects of global climatic change, many organizations, both private and government, are working for the welfare of climate change. 

However, since humans are responsible for this disaster, we should try our best to curb it in the safest and most secure possible ways; likewise, using less private transportation, switching to e-bikes or zero-emissions vehicles following the practice of reducing, reusing, repair and recycle and practicing more use of plastic free products. 

All such efforts will help curb the ill effects of the climate of the earth and environment. 

Also Read: Environmental Conservation

Also Read: How to Prepare for UPSC in 6 Months?

Deforestation, changes in naturally occurring carbon dioxide concentrations, livestock farming, and burning fossil fuels are major causes of climate change.

Less tree cutting, less dependency on fossil fuels, use of different forms of natural energy, and use of electric vehicles can solve the problem of global climatic change.

Paris Agreement is an agreement between 196 Parties at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) to reduce and mitigate Greenhouse Gas emissions.

Rise in temperature, drought, soil erosion, landslides, and floods are some of the adverse effects of climatic changes in the environment. 

The Montreal Protocol, Kyoto Protocol, and Paris Agreement are important international agreements on climate change.

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Deepika Joshi

Deepika Joshi is an experienced content writer with educational and informative content expertise. She has hands-on experience in Education, Study Abroad and EdTech SaaS. Her strengths lie in conducting thorough research and analysis to provide accurate and up-to-date information to readers. She enjoys staying updated on new skills and knowledge, particularly in the education domain. In her free time, she loves to read articles, and blogs related to her field to expand her expertise further. In her personal life, she loves creative writing and aspires to connect with innovative people who have fresh ideas to offer.

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The Kew Lecture: Foreign Secretary's speech on the climate crisis

In his first major foreign policy speech, David Lammy has made clear that action on climate is action on our security, our prosperity and our future.

David Lammy’s speech on climate and nature crisis - YouTube

Thank you Kew Gardens, for hosting my first set piece speech as Foreign Secretary. 

Just after hosting the Colombian President of this year’s Nature COP in Cali this morning. 

Conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East have dominated my time in office so far. But I was very clear in Opposition that, in this job, I would focus on the most profound and universal source of global disorder – the climate and nature emergency.  

Over my political career, it has become clearer to me how this crisis defines our time. As a young backbencher, I admired Robin Cook making climate a geopolitical issue for the first time – he was a pioneer, ahead of his time.  

Four years ago, I spoke about the essential link between climate justice and racial justice. And as Shadow Foreign Secretary, I set out how our response to this crisis both can create unparalleled economic opportunities and is the central geopolitical challenge of our age. 

Time and again, it is the most vulnerable who bear the brunt of this crisis. From Ella Kissi-Debrah – a nine-year-old Londoner killed, in part, by unlawful levels of air pollution near her home, to communities in the Caribbean, whose leaders tell me they feel neglected, as they struggle with stronger, more frequent tropical storms caused by a crisis not of their making.  

So our goal is progressive – a liveable planet for all, now and in the future. 

But we need a hard-headed, realist approach towards using all levers at our disposal, from the diplomatic to the financial.  

And I say to you now: these are not contradictions. Because nothing could be more central to the UK’s national interest than delivering global progress on arresting rising temperatures.   

My argument to you today, is that demands for action from the world’s most vulnerable and the requirements for delivering security for British citizens, are fundamentally aligned.  And this is because this crisis is not some discrete policy area, divorced from geopolitics and insecurity.  

The threat may not feel as urgent as a terrorist or an imperialist autocrat. But it is more fundamental. It is systemic. It’s pervasive. And accelerating towards us at pace. 

Look around the world. Countries are scrambling to secure critical minerals, just as great powers once raced to control oil – we cannot let this become a source of conflict.  

In the Arctic and Antarctic, global warming is driving geopolitical competition over the resources lying beneath the ice. And in the Amazon, there have been the worst droughts ever recorded, partly as a result of deforestation. In the Caribbean, I saw on day one in this job the devastation caused by Hurricane Beryl – the earliest-forming Category 5 hurricane on record. And in places like the Sahel, South Sudan and Syria, rising temperatures are making water and productive land even scarcer. 

These are not random events delivered from the heavens. They are failures of politics, of regulation, and of international cooperation. These failures pour fuel onto existing conflicts and regional rivalries, driving extremism, displacing communities and increasing humanitarian need. And it would be a further failure of imagination to hope that they will stay far from our shores. That we can keep them away. 

Let’s take migration. We are already seeing that climate change is uprooting communities across the world. And by 2050, the World Bank’s worst-case estimate is that climate change could drive 200 million people to leave their homes. 

Or we could take health. The World Health Organisation says climate change is now the biggest threat to human health.  

We saw in the pandemic how quickly an infectious disease could spread from animals to humans, and then from a city the other side of the world to here in Britain. This becomes only more likely as the climate and nature crisis grows. And this crisis threatens the things we take most for granted, from the food that we eat to the air that we breathe.  

But despite all of this, there remains a tendency for climate and nature policy to end up siloed. Too often, it has felt the preserve of experts and campaigners. Fluent in the sometimes impenetrable dialect of COPs. But distant from others working on foreign policy and on national security. And that has to change.  

Don’t get me wrong – we absolutely need campaigners like those in this room, or experts like those working here at Kew. And I am grateful to them all.  

But today, I am committing to you that while I am Foreign Secretary, action on the climate and nature crisis will be central to all that the Foreign Office does.  

This is critical given the scale of the threat, but also the scale of the opportunity. The chance to achieve clean and secure energy, lower bills and drive growth for the UK, and to preserve the natural world around us, on which all prosperity ultimately depends.  

The truth is that in the last few years, something went badly wrong in our national debate on climate change and net zero. I take no pleasure in saying that. 

[political content redacted]

We have seen with the Inflation Reduction Act in the United States, the Green Deal, in the European Union, and the accelerating transition in China, foreign policy, economic and industrial policy becoming increasingly intertwined.  

That is why the Prime Minister is resetting Britain’s approach to climate and nature, putting it at the centre of our cross-Government missions.  

Approaching 100 days in office now, you can already see the difference this has made. Lifting the de facto ban on onshore wind in England. Pledging to end new oil and gas licenses while guaranteeing a fair transition in the North Sea. Switching on Great British Energy to crowd investment into clean power projects. Launching a rapid review of the Environmental Improvement Plan, for completion before the end of this year, so that we can clean our rivers, plant millions more trees, improve our air quality and halt the decline in species. And with over 90% of the UK’s biodiversity within our Overseas Territories, looking to expand the Blue Belt programme to increase marine protection.  

This domestic programme is not just essential to our economy, but to restoring our international credibility.  We are bringing an end to our climate diplomacy of being “Do as I say, not as I do”. But this domestic ambition on its own is not enough.  

That’s why this issue has been on the agenda for nearly every meeting that I’ve had with another Minister in my early weeks, from our closest friends in the G7, to the world’s biggest emitter but largest renewables producer in China, to India, and to members of ASEAN, with whom I announced a new joint Green Transition Fund in the first few weeks in office. 

With Ed Miliband and Steve Reed leading COP negotiations on climate and nature, we have a pair of experienced, determined negotiators. And with Anneliese Dodds as Minister for Development, we will be a united Government team, all drawing on the FCDO’s diplomatic and development heft to push for the ambition needed to keep 1.5 degrees alive.  

To drive forward this cross-Government reset even further, I am announcing today that we will appoint new UK Special Representatives for Climate Change and Nature. These will support me, together with Ed Miliband and Steve Reed respectively, as we reboot internationally, showing that whether you are from the Global North or the Global South, we want to forge genuine partnerships, to tackle this crisis together.  

And I want this diplomatic effort focused particularly on three priorities.  

First, we will build a Global Clean Power Alliance. 

This Government has set a landmark goal – to be the first major economy to deliver clean power by 2030. We will leverage that ambition to build an Alliance committed to accelerating the clean energy transition. And today we are firing the starting gun on forming this new coalition.  

The International Energy Agency forecasts consumption not just of oil, but of all fossil fuels, will peak this decade. We are rapidly discovering new, more efficient ways to reduce emissions. Global investment in clean energy is now almost double the investment in fossil fuels. 

But while some countries are moving ahead in this transition, many are getting left behind.  

Without clean power, it will be impossible to decarbonise vast sectors of the economy, such as transport. We therefore need to accelerate the rollout of renewables across the globe in a way that this Government is doing at home.  

Now, of course there are different obstacles for different countries. But despite several other valuable initiatives pushing forward the energy transition, there is no equivalent grouping of countries at the vanguard of the transition, reaching across the Global North and the Global South together, dedicated to overcoming these barriers.  

So the Alliance needs to focus on scaling up global investment. Emerging market and developing economies outside China account for just fifteen per cent of global clean energy investment. The cost of capital in the Global South is often triple that in the Global North. And almost 700 million people have no access to electricity at all. 

We must unlock global finance on a far, far, larger scale, so we can back ambitious plans from those moving away from fossil fuels – as Anneliese Dodds has just been doing in Jakarta, discussing Indonesia’s Just Energy Transition Partnership, and close the clean power gap by helping more countries to leapfrog fossil fuels to renewable power systems.  

The Alliance should also focus on diversifying the production and supply of critical minerals. Copper and cobalt. Lithium and nickel. The lifeblood of the new economy. We need to bring these commodities to market faster. While avoiding the mistakes of the past, by helping developing countries to secure the economic benefits while promoting the highest environmental standards for mineral extraction. 

The Alliance could inject impetus into expanding grids and storage as well. The IEA assesses that the world needs to add or refurbish the equivalent of the entire existing grid by 2040. 

And we are working on a global energy storage pledge at COP29. We have to plug the gaps in meeting these targets.  

Finally, the Alliance can increase deployment of innovative clean energy. There is huge demand for affordable clean technologies from green hydrogen to sustainable cooking and cooling. And we have got to progress commercialisation of the tech with the greatest potential.  

And we will take a phased and inclusive approach to building the Alliance, listening to those leading the way on clean power and those who share our ambitions.   

But the shared goal is clear – making Net Zero Power a reality, everywhere.  

Second, we must unlock much, much more climate and nature finance. This is critical to my progressive realist approach to the crisis.  

Tackling this crisis requires global consensus – that is the principle at the heart of the COP process.  And we can only reach a consensus by heeding others’ concerns as well as our own. As I know all too well, countries of the Global South suffered great injustices in the past.  

But I have heard repeatedly our partners’ frustrations at the unfairness of the global system today – particularly how difficult it is for them to get international climate finance. 

As my good friend Mia Mottley argues so powerfully, the problem is systemic.  

For example, Africa is on the climate frontline. Natural disasters alone have affected 400 million Africans this century. Yet Africa receives just over three per cent of climate finance flows. And debt servicing alone averages ten per cent of Africa’s GDP.

Change is critical. There is no pathway to countries’ development aspirations without climate resilience, action on the nature crisis and access to clean energy, and no pathway to a sustainable future without development that leaves no one behind. 

The agreement on loss and damage at the last COP was an inspiring example of what the world can achieve by working together.  That was the same spirit in which developed countries committed in 2009 to 100 billion dollars a year in international climate finance.  

Ahead of the Spending Review, we are carefully reviewing our plans to do so. And at the same time, we are pushing for an ambitious new climate finance goal focused on developing countries at COP29 in November. 

Because that is the right thing to do. But, especially in times of fiscal constraint, we need to become more creative in unlocking private sector flows for the green transition, and especially adaptation, across the Global South.  

London is the leading green global financial centre. And I have been delighted to learn how UK experts have been developing more effective financing models.  For example, Britain helped establish the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility back in 2007, the first such fund that pays out after a specific trigger such as earthquakes or tropical cyclones.  

And after Hurricane Beryl, it once again proved its worth, paying out over 76 million dollars as the region began to rebuild. 

I am determined to restore Britain’s reputation for commitment and innovation in the world of development finance. This starts with the multilateral development banks.  

And that’s why, subject to reforms, we support a capital increase for the IBRD, the world’s largest development bank and a key source of climate finance. 

And that’s why next month I will lay before Parliament a UK guarantee for the Asian Development Bank, which will unlock over 1.2 billion dollars in climate finance from the Bank for developing countries in the region.  

But impact is not simply a question of more creativity. To tackle systemic problems, we also need to reform the system itself.  

So, for example, we are co-chairing with the Dominican Republic the Green Climate Fund this year and driving forward reforms to speed up developing countries’ access to it.  

But I have also heard our partners calling for international tax rules to work better for developing countries, for unsustainable debt to be tackled more rapidly, and for obstacles that inhibit the flow of private capital to be addressed. 

My ambition here is clear: for the UK to lead the G7 debate on international institutional reform. 

Third, we must not just halt, but reverse the decline in global biodiversity.  

Sometimes we become numb to the scale of the nature crisis. One million species facing extinction, including one third of both marine mammals and coral reefs. And wildlife populations fallen by 69 per cent since 1970, mostly due to a staggering 83 per cent collapse in freshwater species. 

Biodiversity loss is as much of a threat as changes to our climate. And with nature loss undermining progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, action on nature is also pivotal to genuine partnerships with the Global South.  

We need to bolster the global effort to protect at least thirty per cent of the planet’s land and ocean by 2030. So we are completely committed to ratifying the High Seas Treaty, and to securing agreement on a Plastics Treaty. And here I pay tribute to a predecessor Zac Goldsmith. 

And I have been looking hard at the successes of our development programmes on nature. One programme has mobilised well over a billion pounds to protect and restore forests across nearly 9 million hectares of land. And in the future we plan to expand this programme in the Congo Basin rainforest, the second largest on the planet. 

Some of our funding has also been used for incredible research.  Few would believe that, thanks to the FCDO, a South African business is trialling new biodegradable nets that, if lost, leave no toxins or micro-plastics behind. I want many many more examples like this.  

The FCDO spends around five per cent of its development budget on research. And I am announcing today that we are starting to develop a new programme of research into nature and water specifically with over one hundred researchers and officials having just met in Kenya to begin this agenda.   

I am also looking at how we deliver our development programmes on the ground. 

Indigenous communities particularly are important in this regard – like the incredible female sustainable business owners I met in the Amazon last year – are nature’s best custodians.  

Nature has been declining 30 per cent less, and 30 per cent more slowly, in indigenous lands than in the world as a whole. Evidence shows that putting local communities at the centre of decision-making leads to better outcomes for the natural world. 

This is the model of development that I believe in. The modernised approach to development this Government will be implementing. The spirit of partnership, not paternalism, in action.  

For me this is deeply personal. Far from here, in Guyana’s rainforests, lies Sophia PointI established this small conservation centre five years ago, with my wife, in one of the last unspoilt biodiversity hotspots in the world.  

And it was fascinating last week to discuss it with Sir David Attenborough last week and hear his reminiscences of visiting those same rainforests as a young man. 

I told Sir David that his first book, Zoo Quest to Guiana, came out 1956, the year my father emigrated to Britain.  

In fact my Father used to bring me to Kew Gardens. I mean, I look back, he’s now not alive so I can’t ask him, but I now realise he brought me here to somehow be in touch with Guyana and those rainforests.  

And we discussed how Sir David’s work and that of Sophia Point is rooted in a concept common to the indigenous people of that part of South America and many farmers and others in Britain and around the globe.  

Stewardship of the natural world. 

That we have both an interest and a responsibility to maintain a liveable planet for ourselves and future generations.  

That is our goal. Ultimately, there will be no global stability, without climate stability. 

And there will be no climate stability, without a more equal partnership between the Global North and the Global South. 

For Britain to play its part, we must reset here at home, and reconnect abroad. That is what this Government will deliver. So that, together, we can build a better future for all.

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A sustainable, environmentally sound digital transformation

Excellencies, dear colleagues. 

The digital revolution is accelerating. If we use, and use well, the tools this revolution is bringing, they can slow the triple planetary crisis of climate change , nature and biodiversity loss , and pollution and waste . Help developing nations leapfrog to cleaner and more prosperous development pathways. And, of course, help to deliver sustainable development.

The Global Digital Compact that will emerge from the Summit of the Future is therefore vital. My thanks to the Governments of Zambia and Sweden for their leadership. As the Compact acknowledges, we must pay close attention to the environmental impacts of digital technologies, so that the costs do not outweigh the benefits. 

As I hope that the world has learned from our climate failures and climate procrastination, prevention is not only better, but a lot easier, than the cure. That means that the environmental dimension of technologies such as AI cannot be an afterthought, a ticking of the proverbial box.

We know that technologies such as AI impact the environment, from mining to emissions, from water consumption to E-waste – with issues of injustice deeply entrenched. But these impacts are not researched enough, particularly in the global south. This is why UNEP is today releasing an Issues Note on the Environmental Impacts of AI . 

UNEP’s Chief Digital Officer will shortly provide more detail on the note, including the actions UNEP recommends to ensure that AI works for people and planet, but please allow me a few words.

As UNEP’s note shows, AI produces significant greenhouse gas emissions. Data centres needed for AI are drawing more power, at a time when almost 800 million people lack access to electricity. Meanwhile, the need for cooling may lead to water use equivalent to half of the UK’s by 2027. This comes when close to two billion people lack access to adequate water and sanitation.

There are also serious impacts from the extraction of critical minerals and metals vital to AI chips and, of course, the energy transition. Water and air contamination. The degradation of indigenous people’s lands. Loss or displacement of biodiversity, including species such as Great Apes, our closest living relatives.

So, it is good to note that the Secretary-General’s Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals last week released seven voluntary principles designed to transform mineral value chains by putting human rights, justice, equity and environmental protection at the forefront.

The reality is that as a civilization we must now invest in a sustainable supply of minerals and metals to drive the digital transformation and energy transition.  And the reality is also that these minerals and metals are indeed a huge opportunity for many nations to increase revenues for sustainable development – if they break exploitative colonial patterns and ensure value addition is done at home.

However, since ramping up unsustainable mining would further damage the environment, and exhaust supplies, we need to approach the sector with clear-headedness, not with a mind clouded by a “gold rush fever” approach. We must tread carefully rather than rush forward, blinded by the sweet deals dangling before our eyes, like those who rushed to pan for gold in California in 1849. 

We need cool heads to deliver solid policies on environmental stewardship, circularity, equity and justice. Because we are lagging far behind. Currently, only around one per cent of rare earth elements are recycled. One per cent. Looking at e-waste in general, only 22 per cent is recycled and disposed of in an environmentally sound manner. 

Before we start, we need to have clear environmental management in place. Circularity policies in place. Justice in place. Transparency on the deals in place. Revenue management in place to prevent what economists refer to as Dutch disease – an increase in the economic development of one sector and a decline in other sectors. 

The bottom line is that investment in “value addition” and in recovery of materials from circularity will be critical to expand economic and labour opportunities. 

To this end, governments, international organizations and the private sector must unite under the Global Digital Compact. By working together, we can ensure equitable access to digital technologies. Minimize the environmental impacts. And use these technologies to create economic growth and sustainability on a healthy planet that supports us all. 

• Digital transformations
• Sustainable development goals
• Sustainable Development

Further Resources

• UNEP's work on Digital Transformations
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) end-to-end: The Environmental Impact of the Full AI Life Cycle Needs to be Comprehensively Assessed
• UNEP at the 79th Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 79)

Related Content

Related Sustainable Development Goals

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Remarks on the Urgency of Global Climate Action

John Kerry, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London

July 20, 2021

Thank you Robin for a remarkably generous introduction. Ladies and gentlemen I accept the nomination.  [laughter]

I really appreciate Robin being here and I’m a great admirer of the incredible work of Chatham House, so thank you very, very much for being part of this.

Dame Amelia Fawcett – fellow Bostonian – but thank you very much for a warm welcome.  From your world-renowned seed banking program to the modeling work that you do – I just met with one of your scientists – Kew is making measurable contributions to the challenge of climate and biodiversity.  And we thank you very, very much for those efforts.

I want to promise you, ladies and gentlemen, though we came here to talk about the greenhouse effect we did not intend to put you in a greenhouse.  And feel free I think I may take this off momentarily, but I appreciate it.

Let me introduce two guests – I’m very grateful to Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, who is one of the leaders in the C40 with mayors across the world.  Thank you Mr. Mayor for being here today.

And an old friend from his days as environment minister when I was Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee and Secretary of State.  Ed Miliband is here and we appreciate as a shadow minister, the shadow government representative today.

So, obviously we’re meeting at a very difficult time in the pandemic.  And the COVID crisis still holds too many people at risk of severe illness, hospitalization, and death. And while the extraordinary technological development of vaccines is helping to ease the crisis, we are obviously not yet through it.  I am very sorry to say, the suffering of COVID will be magnified many times over in a world that does not grapple with and ultimately halt the climate crisis.  We don’t have the luxury of waiting until COVID is vanquished to take up the climate challenge.

So it’s good to be back in the UK – where my friend Alok Sharma and his team are hard at work, preparing to host the UN climate conference – COP26 in Glasgow this November.  And I am particularly grateful to join you in this remarkable setting – it’s an amazing place – which is both a living tribute to nature’s beauty, but also its fragility.

And fundamentally, the struggle to tackle the global climate crisis is just as simple and profound as this place. It’s about protecting and preserving the fragile world that we share.  It’s about understanding that it costs more not to respond to the climate crisis than it does to respond.  And it is, without exaggeration, about survival.

But within the question of how we meet our collective responsibility is a political question – not about partisanship or ideology, but about the simple capacity of our institutions to come together and to do big, transformative things.

And that is also something about which the legacy of London can tell us a great deal.

I spent enough time in Europe as a young person that I learned not to take stability on the continent for granted. My grandfather was an American businessman who raised his family between the U.S., the UK, and France as the storm clouds of World War II gathered.  My mother and members of her family fled France as an occupying army moved through the country. Their house was ultimately bombed and burned to the ground.  And when I was just 4 years old, my mother brought me there to visit the ruins – her first visit back since the war.  Almost nothing was left and a skeleton of a burned-out building rose into the sky with one stone staircase.  That is my earliest memory.

And I mention it because I’m glad I have it – because like most in my generation, I grew up with a visceral understanding of how close the world came to chaos – and how allies and alliances dedicated to order and openness, common interests and shared values made all the difference: not just to avert another conflict, but to heal and rebuild a shattered world.

The world order that exists today did not just emerge on a whim.  It was built by leaders and nations determined to make sure that never – never – again would we come so close to the edge of the abyss.

That journey has always given me a bedrock confidence that together we actually can solve humanity’s biggest threats.

The climate crisis – my friends – is the test of our own times, and while some may still believe it is unfolding in slow motion, no.  This test is now as acute and as existential as any previous one.

The irony should not be lost on us that it is young people around the world who are calling on adults to behave like adults and exercise their basic responsibilities.  Young people who feel forced to put down their schoolbooks and march out of the classroom to strike for climate.  They know the world is not responding fast enough to an existential threat they didn’t create, but for which they risk bearing the ultimate burden: uninhabitable communities on an increasingly unlivable planet in their lifetimes.

How must the global political system look through their eyes?  All the talk about values and architecture means little to a generation that has grown up every single day under the mounting danger and now the undeniable reality of a climate crisis to which the politics almost everywhere has failed to respond adequately for more than thirty years.

I’ve been part of that journey.  I was there in 1988 when Jim Hansen testified that it was happening.  I was in Rio in 1992 when we had the first Earth Summit.  That was number one.  Now we’re at number 26.

It’s no wonder their generation doesn’t share in the confidence that the world can and will move forward – the world can and will make a difference. It’s no wonder that those young people are wondering where we are. The world can and will rise to this occasion, despite the fact it hasn’t yet.  At least that possibility is still there.

Nostalgia for what our parents’ generation accomplished is absolutely no antidote to their anxiety of these young folk, and even their anger at what our generation has so far failed to do.

We adults who have a votes in legislatures or elections and multilateral institutions, seats in the Situation Room in the White House and the boardrooms – we must provide answers that are tangible – not theoretical.  And above all, we need to provide action and we need to do it now.

Because time is running out.  Not a euphemism, not an exaggeration, time is running out.

Six years ago, the Paris Agreement brought countries together, I had the privilege of leading our negotiating team, the goal was of limiting the total increase in the Earth’s temperature to “well below” two degrees Celsius and to pursue efforts towards 1.5.  Under the Agreement, each country committed to do what it determined by itself it was willing to do, collectively, to put the world on the right path.

Yes the Agreement was an historic show of unity in the face of a global threat, and it is making a difference today.

Countries put forward initial targets that would reduce warming by about a full degree Celsius.  Just achieving that was crucial progress, pulling us back from the brink of an inconceivably dangerous future.  But what we also have to be honest about now is the limits of what we engineered together.

Because the fundamental truth of the Paris Agreement is that even if every country fulfilled its initial promises –and many are falling short — even if everyone did what they said they would do in Paris, the temperature of this planet would still rise by upwards of 2.5 or 3 degrees centigrade.

We’re already seeing dramatic consequences with 1.2 degrees.  Imagine the doubling.  To contemplate doubling that is to invite catastrophe.

I’m not an exaggerator, I’m not an alarmist, but I do believe in science. Two and two is four.  It’s still four, despite the fact that some politicians want you to debate whether or not it’s five, and chew up all our time and energy.

Since the years since Paris, the scientific community has now determined that even the Agreement’s “well below 2 degrees” is not enough to stave off climate chaos.  A seminal 2018 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the IPCC, made clear that we must focus on capping warming as close as we can get to 1.5 degrees, if not 1.5.  Much more warming than that, and life on our planet will become increasingly unrecognizable.

And that prospect of an unlivable tomorrow, should be, I would think, as alarming as it is sobering as we take stock of the world we are living in today.

Already, today, we share a world in which more frequent and powerful hurricanes and typhoons destroy homes, businesses, and communities.  Just last week, a rainfall of such intensity that it flooded communities in Germany, Holland and Belgium leaving hundreds of dead and thousands facing years of difficult recovery.  Nigeria and Uganda also experienced massive, destructive flooding in recent weeks.

Today we share a world in which fiery conflagrations rampage across Australia and the American West and even the Russian tundra.  Even the rainforests of the Amazon are burning.

We share a world in which record heat waves force cities to install relief centers, cause roads to buckle, and illnesses to spike, resulting in thousands of heat-related deaths a year.  Where extremes are everyday fare, like Siberia reaching a scorching 118 degrees inside the Arctic Circle or Antarctica at 70 degrees Fahrenheit last February.

We’re living in a world where crops no longer grow where they always did before; the chemistry of the oceans changes more and faster than ever before – where millions of people are forced to leave increasingly uninhabitable homelands – maybe 20 million a year migrating around the world.  We all know that the political impact of migration was a few years ago, and still, imagine what happens when places become uninhabitable and people are knocking on the door of places where they know people can live.

These impacts are real and most of them, my friends, are irreversible.  That’s what the scientists told me – irreversible. But even more horrifying is what the world will look like in the near future unless we change course.

The world of 2100 – the world of our children and grandchildren, just 80 years from now.

A world where major cities – Jakarta, Mumbai, Shanghai, Venice, Bangkok, New Orleans, and many more – will need trillions of dollars in infrastructure just to survive repeated flooding and high tides.

A world in which the ocean is more acidic and starved for oxygen, despite the fact that we humans breathe 51 percent of our oxygen coming from the ocean.  An ocean that is increasingly hostile for marine life; devoid of most tropical coral reefs, and with that the loss of protection from storms and food security for millions.

A world in which the Arctic may not have any ice in the summer.

A world in which over 1/3 of the population will face longer-lasting heat waves with unprecedented regularity.

A world in which farmers and construction workers cannot work outside without risking heat-stroke.

Where a month’s worth of rain falling in an hour may become commonplace.

Where droughts last months longer and occur more frequently – and hundreds of millions of people suffer from freshwater scarcity.  Just look at the Himalayas melting – the Alps, the other mountains – the feeders of the great rivers of our world: the Yangtze, the Yellow River, the Mekong, the Ganges, the billions of people living along those riverbanks.

A world in which the crops families have grown for generations are no longer viable.

Where conditions for malaria transmission and other chronic illnesses skyrocket and pandemics like the one we continue to battle today actually become more prevalent.

So what all these statistics add up to would be a world in chaos.  It’s a world where whole countries would be destabilized from stalled economical growth, hunger, starvation, escalating conflict over resources, and people would be forced to abandon their homes.  Just look at the people in Germany needing billions of bailout.  We bailed out three storms a few years ago – $265 million dollars. But we couldn’t even find 100 million dollars to fulfill our obligation to the Paris Agreement.

So we’re looking at a world in which we ultimately spend so much money, the potential of the world, and effort just coping with disasters, that we can’t invest in tomorrow.  It undermines everything we have been fighting for.  And no country, rich or poor, will be spared.

So one thing is certain: everything I’ve just said is not the description of a world of science fiction.  It’s what scientists tell us will be reality by the end of this century if our emissions of greenhouse gasses, pollution, do not decline.  And we are forewarned – everything the scientists have been telling us now will happen for 30 years, is happening – but bigger and faster than was predicted.

And you don’t need to be a scientist to know that what we’re looking at is a world no parent would ever be content to leave behind as an inheritance for future generations.

Facts, evidence, and science all make clear that we have a narrow window to avoid that future.  We can still avoid it. But we have to begin to act with genuine urgency, bringing countries all across this planet together.

Simply put: the world needs to cut emissions – greenhouse gas CO2 emissions particularly – by at least 45% by 2030 in order to be on a credible scientific path by midcentury to net zero.  That’s what the IPCC showed us.  45% – not just in some countries or some regions, but the world over.  They found that 45% is the minimum that the world must reduce.

That makes this the decisive decade.  And it makes 2021 a decisive year.

And most of all, it must make COP 26 in Glasgow this year a pivotal moment for the world to come together to meet and master the climate challenge.

This week marks 100 days until Glasgow, six months into my time as President Biden’s Special Presidential Envoy for Climate – and six months since President Biden rejoined the Paris Agreement and committed his Administration to bold climate action.

After our absence for four years, my friends, we approach this challenge with humility, but – let me be clear – we approach it with ambition.  We know that we cannot redeem the past or retrieve four lost years – which in Churchill’s phrase could be described as “ years the locusts have eaten .”  But now, a new American President is boldly moving to make up for lost time, and this is an important demarcation moment to assess where we all stand with the time that we have left to get the job done.

To meet the challenge, at the Leaders’ Summit in April, the United States announced an ambitious target of reducing our emissions over the next ten years, by 2030, we will reduce by 50-52 percent.  And President Biden has announced bold policies to back that up – it’s not rhetoric, it’s real.  Pick up the paper today and you’ll read about the fight that’s going on for infrastructure and for the future.  He’s planning to put 500,000 electric vehicle stations deployed by 2030 around our country.  He set a carbon-free power sector goal by 2035, investing $35 billion in clean energy research, development, and demonstration – and achieving net zero emissions no later than 2050, if not sooner.

We are moving to reach these goals with legislative and regulatory action, including working with Congress to achieve unprecedented resources for climate focused assistance for developing countries.

We do all this knowing full well that no country and no continent alone can solve the climate crisis.

So, we are working with allies, partners, competitors, and even adversaries all too aware that some things happening today threaten to erase the very progress that so many are struggling to advance.

How alarming it is, my friends, that as we race to Glasgow, some countries are currently still building new, carbon-polluting coal plants, and even planning to break ground on more in the future.

At a time when many countries are committed to plant more trees as a nature-based solution, other countries are actually clear-cutting more trees and continuing to illegally, illegally cut down the rainforest.  They are removing the lungs of the world, destroying irreplaceable biodiversity – of all the places in the world that’s understood here – and destabilizing the climate, all at the same time.

How irrational it is that that there are countries actually burning more coal and using less solar than they were a decade ago – even as the costs of clean energy have plummeted well below fossil fuel.

To paraphrase Einstein – Insanity is continuing to do something that will kill you even when you know it will.

We can’t afford a world so divided in its response to the climate crisis when the evidence is so compelling for action.

We have to make choices – together.  Life is about choices; you all know that – everybody does; so is governing; so is leading, so this moment requires.

In World War II and its aftermath, leaders did what they had to do to get the job done.  After the United States finally joined the War, Churchill didn’t lament in his nightly journal how reluctant that we’d been, or how long it had taken us; he wrote simply these words: “Today, we have won.”  Roosevelt, like Churchill, had a deep antipathy toward the Soviet system and it wasn’t hard to imagine the looming possibility of a Cold War that would define the second half of the twentieth century.  But they didn’t hesitate to form an alliance with the Soviets because there was no other way to prevail in the struggle, they both correctly identified at the time as existential.

Overnight, at home and around the world, distilleries were converted into producing fuel for jet planes and tanks.  A Ford Motor Company, a plant in Michigan, turned out one B24 bomber every hour.  We retooled our economy.  We responded to a threat that policy makers didn’t just call existential but acted like it really was.  How many people have you heard say “oh, climate change, an existential crisis”?  But how many places are responding as if it is?

After the war, with refugees at record numbers, with a continent gripped by hunger and devastation, its critical infrastructure wiped out – the world acted once again as if the threat was existential.  And instead of pulling each other apart, we pulled together with the Marshall Plan, the rebuilding of the order that has served us well since then.

That is precisely what we must do now: treat the climate crisis as the crisis it has become, and mount a response that is comparable to wartime mobilization, a massive opportunity to rebuild our economies after COVID-19, to  “Build Better.”  How many times have you heard that phrase after this pandemic?

That’s the mission everywhere that we are engaged in – for these last six months, and I promise you in these next 100 days.

Let me be clear, we are – I want to be very clear about this because there are countries that express concern about what they’re asked to do.  The fact is that we are not saying that every country must, will, or can do the same thing – they can’t – but we are saying that every country can do enough and can do what is appropriate within its ability to help us keep on track to win this battle.  Not because it’s one region, or one country against another, or competition, because we are literally all in this together.

And the biggest step of all this decade is scaling up the development of a global clean energy economy.  Energy accounts for three-quarters of global greenhouse gas emissions.  How we power our homes, how we power our cars, and so forth.

By 2030, we have to speed up the deployment of the clean technologies that we already have – put them on super steroids and deploy, deploy, deploy.  According to the International Energy Agency, that means:

• The equivalent of building the world’s biggest solar plant every day for the next decade.
• Ramping up renewable energy from wind and solar by four times what it is today to reach 1,000GW installed per year in 2030.
• It means ensuring that, in 2030, 60 percent of new car sales around the world are electric vehicles.
• And all this will fuel a clean energy investment boom, globally, reaching $4 trillion a year by 2030. That is the task ahead of us.

Second, we must also need to develop, demonstrate, and scale up emerging technologies during this decade so that they can play a major role in decarbonizing the global economy by 2050.  Between now and 2030, the IEA says that:

• Governments are going to need to invest $90 billion in technology demonstration projects.
• We’ll need to rapidly scale up green hydrogen and clean fuels that can slash emissions from heavy industries –cement, concrete, aluminum, steel.
• We’ll also need to develop the equivalent of installing the largest carbon capture storage facility currently in operation, but we have to do that every 9 days through 2030.
• A raft of other technologies – spanning advanced renewables and nuclear, long-duration energy storage, smart grids, battery storage, direct air carbon capture – so many different things that could provide the saving grace.  But they all need to be commercialized and scaled. And this is even more of a challenge.

And third, if we invest heavily in clean energy – and in energy efficiency that curbs rising global demand for energy – and then of course fossil fuels, the demand, will naturally drop.  Starting now, the IEA tells us that we do not actually need a new investment in oil, coal, or gas production – because they’re simply not necessary to meet our energy needs given other technologies that are online and coming online.

By 2040, we should have entirely phased out all unabated coal and unabated oil plants and sharply reduced reliance on unabated natural gas generation.

The good news, my friends, is that the proof is all around us that we can do it.  Clean energy technologies are already cheaper than fossil fuels – and we have a playbook to do the same thing across many other emerging clean technologies.

Over the last decade, the cost of solar power plummeted 90 percent.  The cost of onshore wind plunged 70 percent. And today, solar and wind power are the cheapest source of new electricity generation in countries accounting for 77 percent of global GDP.  Last year, China and the United States, the world’s two largest emitters, installed records amounts of renewable energy – despite the pandemic.  And 90% of the new electricity in the world came from renewables sources.  So we know we can do it.

Renewable energy technologies fell in cost as governments and private companies invested in research, development, and demonstration.

The U.S. Department of Energy launched the SunShot program in 2011 to drive down the cost of solar power by 75% in a decade. And thanks to advances in our country and around the world, solar hit that target three years early.

Learning from this experience, the Biden Administration is launching a series of “Earthshots” to drive down the costs of new technologies, marshalling the innovative capacity of researchers and companies.  And if we meet these Earthshots by 2030, we will turbocharge the clean energy revolution.

Already, inspiring innovations are emerging from research laboratories and garnering private investment to enter commercial markets. Breakthroughs in solid-state batteries could enable electric vehicle driving range to actually be longer than traditional gasoline cars, with lightning-quick recharging times.  The next generation of solar cells can produce more power from the sun at a fraction of the cost of today’s already inexpensive technology.

We’re on the march.  We’re headed in the right direction.  We just don’t know when we’re going to get where we need to.

Reaching global net-zero emissions represents the greatest market transformation – with the greatest economic promise – since the Industrial Revolution.

But the energy sector isn’t the only driver of global emissions.  Other areas are critical as well, such as halting illegal deforestation to manage emissions from land use.

More and more countries are emboldening their commitments to climate action – and they’re reaping the benefits for their people and their economies.

At the Summit in April in Washington, but globally virtually, Canada raised its 2030 target from 30 percent to fully 40-45 percent by 2030.  It is now working on its own roadmap for implementation.  Japan stepped up to pledge a reduction in its emissions by 46-50 percent.

These powerful announcements built on the impressive pledges from the European Union to slash emissions by 55 percent by 2030 and the United Kingdom to cut its emissions by 68 percent in the timeframe.

Here in the UK, you have demonstrated how to align economic value with climate action, with a ten-point green industrial plan for the future, from offshore wind to clean hydrogen to jet fuel and more.

And countries like Germany have also made important contributions to bend the global cost curve of solar power and deploy renewables on a large scale.

What does all that add up to?  Before and during the April Summit, countries representing 55 percent of global GDP announced 2030 commitments consistent with the global pace required to keep 1.5 degrees within reach.

And momentum continues to build worldwide as we meet with various countries.

South Korea and South Africa are both on track to strengthen their own climate targets ahead of Glasgow.

Some of the world’s leading producers of oil and gas are already showing signs they’re ready to move too.

Russia just agreed with us on the importance of robust implementation of Paris’ temperature goals and the global pursuit of net zero emissions, which they’ve never embraced yet.  After my visit to Moscow last week, we announced a joint commitment to make “significant efforts in this decade” to limit global warming.

Saudi Arabia likewise joined us in affirming the importance, “the importance of reducing emissions and taking adaptation actions during the 2020s to avoid the worst consequences of climate change.”

And in a landmark regional dialogue of ten Middle East and North African countries in the United Arab Emirates – including multiple oil producers – countries unanimously agreed to “reducing emissions by 2030.”

Now yes, these are only words – and we’re clear-eyed about that. But they’re the start – they’re encouraging words.  And in the next 100 days we can build on that.

The conversation is shifting from half measures to what it actually takes to get the job done.

For example, major players are mobilizing to “tap the brakes,” to cutting methane, a short-lived but potent greenhouse gas many times more destructive than carbon dioxide.

But here is the challenge: despite 55 percent of the world climbing on board for a 1.5 degree future, include many of the countries I just mentioned, despite that, there is still so much more that needs to be done.

Mother Nature does not pick and choose which country’s emissions are warming the planet.  Before she engulfs us in droughts or fires or floods, Mother Nature doesn’t differentiate between greenhouse gases from Europe or from the U.S. or from China.  Mother Nature only feels the impact and tracks emissions into the atmosphere writ large.  And what matters to our collective fate is the total of all those gases and the emissions track we are on together.

That brings us inexorably to the world’s relationship with China.

To those who say we should avoid engaging with China on climate change because of our differences, I say there is simply no way – mathematical or ideological – to solve the climate crisis without the full cooperation and leadership of a country that today leads the world with 28% of global emissions.  The International Energy Agency has laid out the reductions that are needed at a global scale, and their statistics imply that if China sticks with its current plan and does not peak its emissions until 2030, then the entire rest of the world would have to go to zero – zero! – by 2040 or even 2035.  It knocks at least a decade off the timeline for the rest of the world to decarbonize.  And that, my friends, sets a goal that currently is impossible to achieve.  So, it’s imperative that we – the United States, the second biggest emitter – and China – and the rest of the world – are all pulling together in the same direction in this critical effort.

In a remarkably short time, China has produced unprecedented economic growth.  But a foundational building block of that growth has been a staggering amount of fossil fuel use.  And as a large country, an economic leader, and now the largest driver of climate change, China absolutely can help lead the world to success by peaking and starting to reduce emissions early during this critical decade of 2020 to 2030.  And I say that simply because it is factual scientifically.  The truth is there’s no alternative because without sufficient reduction by China – together with the rest of us – the goal of 1.5 degrees is essentially impossible.  China’s partnership and leadership on this issue of extraordinary international consequence is essential.

Even as China continues to build and fund coal-fired power plants at a troubling pace, it is important to note that China has generally exceeded its international climate commitments in what it does at home.

As it builds out the details of their 14th five-year plan, experts all around the world are convinced that they can find greater opportunities to accelerate reductions in emissions without losing or slowing down their economy and without being asked to do something that’s unfair.  I am convinced they can overperform with higher commitments to renewable energy to displace a great deal of coal.

More attention could be paid to methane emissions, a faster transition to electric vehicles, stronger building codes, industrial processes offer huge possibilities to show leadership in building clean energy economies.

President Xi announced to the UN last year that China would “scale up” its NDC and we hope that will include sector-specific, near-term actions in their 14th five-year plan enabling earlier peaking and the possibility of rapid reductions afterwards.

Now obviously, it is not a mystery that China and the U.S. have many differences.  But on climate, cooperation –it is the only way to break free from the world’s current mutual suicide pact.

President Biden and President Xi have both stated unequivocally that each will cooperate on climate despite other consequential differences.  America needs China to succeed in slashing emissions, and China needs America to do its part and do the same.  The best opportunity that we have to secure a reasonable climate future is for China and the United States to work together.  The best way to do so is to lay out specific, ambitious, near-term reduction goals, and back them up with serious policy and work together to set an example to the world of where we need to go and how we can get there.

India, the world’s 3rd largest emitting nation, has set an impressive target of building 450 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2030.  That target is really critical to the world’s quest to hold 1.5 degrees, because without a rapid clean energy transition, India’s emissions will surpass the United States by 2040.

That’s why in a meeting with Prime Minister Modi we were able to agree on a new partnership with India – the U.S.-India Agenda 2030 Partnership, which President Biden and Prime Minister Modi launched at the Summit. And it will take specific actions to deploy that renewable energy.  We’re working to mobilize billions of new cash – fresh investment in India’s burgeoning clean energy.

Still, some argue that India did not create today’s predicament, therefore why should it have to share in the solution?  Well I just explained that the process doesn’t allow for individualization of where the emissions come from.  But more importantly, the solutions to climate change are the greatest economic opportunity we’ve seen on this planet since the industrial revolution.  And the fact is the consequences of the climate crisis will not be reserved for those countries most responsible for the problem. That’s just the reality.

So we simply cannot keep 1.5 degrees within reach without every one of the world’s major economies acting – without bringing the remaining 45 percent onboard into the task.

We also need to heed the needs and aspirations of all those who are particularly vulnerable nations.  This process must be fair, and it cannot just the developed world that has the ability to respond.  The fact is that 20 economies equal about 75-80 percent of all the emissions.  So some countries are right when they point the finger and say “wait a minute, we’re suffering the impacts but we didn’t create this.”  It’s a fundamental matter of equity and fairness that we respond to those for whom the climate crisis is imminently existential.  To that end President Biden has pledged to triple our support for adaptation efforts by 2024.  And we are working with our partners to further strengthen our collective support for the Paris finance agreements and commitments by the time we reach Glasgow.

To the world’s emerging economies, for whom development is justly your foremost priority, let me just say we will help you chart your own pathways to prosperity.  Pathways not on the polluting practices of the past, but on the clean, sustainable technologies of the future.

And to the major economies – let us be frank: the onus is on us.  We are the largest emitters of the past, and the largest emitters today, we play the largest role in pulling the world back from the brink of climate disaster.

And we all have further to go.

But we can do so knowing that it comes with opportunity.  That’s what the private sector is telling us today – increasingly moving to sustainable investment.

They are committing trillions of dollars now to make climate change central to investment strategy.

Meanwhile, in spite of the havoc wreaked by COVID-19, the world did see the unprecedented growth in renewable energy that we were able to produce in 2020.

So think about it my friends, the highest valued automobile company in the world – Tesla.  It only makes electric vehicles.

Mitsubishi is building the world’s largest zero emission steel plant – in Austria.

They know climate action is a golden opportunity.  And all the world can share in it.

But it won’t happen on its own.  It’s not automatic.  It’s not preordained.

250 companies, for instance, account for a third of global emissions – and yet 41 of them haven’t set goals for reducing emissions.

So we must match, we have to match policy to potential. In two days we meet at the Ministerial level to prepare for the G20 in October.  We will meet in Italy, the co-presidency of the COP.  Success at this week’s gathering of the world’s biggest emitters can help smooth the road for success when all the world gathers together in Glasgow this November.

So the world will be watching what they do.

We need the G20 to lead, in word and deed, so that all the world can lead in Glasgow.

My friends, there is still time to put a safer 1.5 degree Centigrade future back within reach.

But only if every major economy commits to meaningful reductions by 2030, that is the only way to put the world on a credible track to global net zero by midcentury.

At or before COP26, we need to see the major economies of the world – not just be ambitious or set ambitious targets, but we got to have clear plans for how we’re going to get there over the next decade.  By 2023, we need those same economies to put out road maps for how they’re going to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

Commitments have to be backed up by concrete national action plans.  The time for talking has long since past.  We need to match suitable investment – both from public and private sector – we need to really rethink the multi-developmental banks process – how we de-risk, how we allocate capital, and how we will grow our ways out of this.

We can – and must – achieve this together, especially knowing the triumph or tragedy of the two alternative worlds that await our choices.  I believe we will get to the low carbon economy we urgently need, but it is not clear to me yet that we will get there in time.

It’s what we’ve always done when we know that the world needs it most.  We can come together.

But it’s up to us to prove to ourselves and to the generation protesting in the streets – that we are prepared to do it again.  That we are the problem-solvers, not just dreamers, not talkers; we’re the doers, not the deniers.

That our words about ambition will be matched by ambitious actions.

My friends, Glasgow is the place, and 2021 is the time.  And we can in a little more than a hundred days, save the next hundred years. Thank you.

U.S. Department of State

The lessons of 1989: freedom and our future.

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Scholz sees UN Pact of the Future as a compass in troubled times

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says he is counting on the recently adopted UN Pact of the Future to create new trust in the United Nations.

"At a time of great tension and uncertainty, we need the Pact for the Future more than ever," the German leader said in a speech, given in English, at a New York summit of all 193 UN states.

The agreement expresses the determination to tackle challenges such as war, climate change, poverty and hunger, global health threats and artificial intelligence together.

"The Pact for the Future can serve as a compass for us. A compass whose needle points towards more cooperation and partnership, instead of towards more conflict and fragmentation," Scholz said.

The pact "shows that all the talk of division, polarization and uncertainty will not be the end of the story of our United Nations," he said.

"Because we still cooperate. We are still placing trust in one another. We are still committed to the principles of the [UN] Charter. And we are still willing to treat each other with respect and fairness."

The UN pact, which had been negotiated by Germany and Namibia over many months, had previously been adopted against the will of Russia and other countries.

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Remarks at the Our Changing World session of the Panorama Leadership forum, on the sidelines of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly

Nearly eight months ago, I took on the role of Regional Director for WHO in the Western Pacific. Spanning across Asia and the Pacific, from Mongolia in the North to the small island country of Niue in the East, the Region is incredibly diverse and dynamic. 

It has seen unprecedented economic growth, migration and urbanization, which has created opportunities for many.  But this has also brought new challenges.  For example, as a result of progress and better healthcare there are more people living longer.  There are more than 245 million people aged 65 years and older — around 13% of the Region’s population — and this number is expected to double by 2050.  While this progress is welcome, it does mean health systems are seeing an increase in the burden of noncommunicable diseases as well as a growing population of people with diverse functional abilities.   

The Region is also a hotspot for emerging diseases, from SARS to avian influenza to COVID-19.  We’ve just come out of what was hopefully the worst pandemic of our lifetime and we need to prepare for the next one.    

But in the eight months since I took office, the thing that has continued to keep me up at night at most is the effect of climate change on health.  As a Tongan and a Pacific Islander, this issue feels close to home.  But as Regional Director, I’ve now seen just how large of an issue this is for the health of everyone across the Region and the globe.   

The same human activities that destabilize our planet’s climate also directly contribute to poor health outcomes.  This dual threat demands our urgent attention and action.  WHO has long warned about the health impacts of climate change.  The burning of fossil fuels, deforestation and industrial activities release greenhouse gases that trap heat in our atmosphere, leading to global warming.    

These activities not only alter our climate but also pollute the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat.  Air pollution, for instance, is linked to respiratory diseases, cardiovascular conditions and even premature death.  Our slow progress in reducing emissions and building resilience is putting lives at risk and straining healthcare systems. 

The nexus of climate change and health is complex.  It touches multiple sectors like agriculture, water and urban planning.  Extreme weather events—heatwaves, floods, hurricanes—disrupt food production, leading to malnutrition and food insecurity.  Water scarcity and contamination increase the spread of waterborne diseases.  Urban areas, with their dense populations, are especially vulnerable, compounding socioeconomic inequalities and slowing development. 

To address this, we must recognize climate change as a central public health issue.  The health of our planet is tied to the health of its people.  By framing climate change as a public health crisis, we can rally healthcare professionals, policymakers and communities to take meaningful action.   

What do we do about this?  Well, health-centred solutions offer a way to address multiple challenges simultaneously.  Transitioning to renewable energy not only reduces greenhouse gases but also improves air quality, leading to better respiratory health.  Expanding green spaces in cities can reduce heat, encourage physical activity, and improve mental well-being. 

Strengthening healthcare systems to be climate-resilient is critical.  By preparing our health systems for climate impacts, we also improve our readiness for other emergencies, such as pandemics.  This is a priority for WHO, particularly in vulnerable areas.   

WHO’s COP26 Special Report on Climate Change and Health outlines ten key recommendations for governments to maximize the health benefits of climate action.  These recommendations were shaped by over 400 experts and organizations, stressing the need for a coordinated,  multi-sectoral response.  A new report will be launched at COP29 this year, reaffirming the urgency of this issue.   

One key strategy is the "One Health" approach, which recognizes the interdependence of human, animal and ecosystem health.  By fostering collaboration across these areas, we can better tackle the health risks posed by climate change. 

Environmental degradation increases our exposure to disease risks, including zoonotic diseases, which are transmitted from animals to humans.  The environment plays a crucial role in the One Health approach.  It acts as a reservoir for nutrients and living organisms, including disease agents such as bacteria and viruses.  Environmental processes can transform chemicals into bioavailable forms that can be absorbed by the body, potentially leading to health issues.  Land use change, biodiversity loss and pollution exacerbate these challenges.  Habitat degradation can increase human contact with wildlife, leading to the spread of zoonotic diseases. 

As we navigate an era of rapid environmental change, it is imperative to understand how these shifts impact human health and what we, as leaders, can do to mitigate emerging threats.  In our rapidly changing world, several major trends in the field of climate and health demand our immediate attention.  

Increasing frequency and intensity of hurricanes, floods, and heatwaves poses direct threats to human health, causing injuries, fatalities and exacerbating chronic conditions.  Changes in temperature and precipitation patterns are expanding the habitats of vectors like mosquitoes and ticks, leading to the spread of diseases such as malaria, dengue and Lyme disease.  Rising temperatures and pollution levels contribute to poor air quality, which is linked to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.  Climate change affects agricultural productivity and water availability, leading to malnutrition and waterborne diseases.  Social impact leaders must grasp the interconnectedness of these trends and their broader implications.  

At-risk populations, including low-income communities and marginalized groups, are disproportionately affected by climate-related health issues.  Addressing these inequities is crucial for effective intervention.  The economic burden of climate-related health issues is substantial, affecting healthcare systems, productivity and overall economic stability.  

Climate and health challenges are global in nature, requiring coordinated international efforts and knowledge sharing.  Looking ahead, the health impacts of climate change will only intensify without swift action.  

We must integrate climate and health policies, engage communities in decision-making, and support research to develop innovative solutions. 

Climate change is not just an environmental issue; it’s a public health imperative.  By addressing its health impacts, we protect lives, foster economic well-being, and promote sustainable development.    

Thank you.