Dear colleagues from the EU Member States Embassies, the EU Delegation and the European Investment Bank,

Projects partners, Media guests, All friends joining us online,

            The second edition of the Sustainability Tour is coming to its end. Since the Delegation of the European Union launched this campaign 10 weeks ago, thousands of Chinese people have learned more about cooperation between the EU and China on green transition. We have renewed contacts with our Chinese partners and acknowledged their important contribution to the success of our cooperation projects.

This campaign presented projects in China financed or promoted by the European Union, the European Investment Bank, Belgium, Estonia, Finland, France, Slovenia, and Sweden. However, this is only a small sample of our current cooperation with China. Other EU Member States joined our bike rides in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, proving our common concerns regarding the planet and our determination to fight climate change, protect the environment and ensure a transition to a more sustainable future. As Premier Li Qiang told President Von der Leyen last year, “green is the colour of our cooperation”.

At home, the EU remains on track to reach its commitment to reduce emissions by at least 55% by 2030. Thanks largely to a boost in renewable energy production, the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions dropped by 8% in 2023, the largest reduction in decades, excluding the year of Covid-19 pandemic. EU emissions are now 37% below 1990 levels, while GDP has grown by 68% over the same period.

In Baku, Azerbaijan, European Commissioner for Climate Action Wopke Hoekstra has reaffirmed the EU’s commitment and explained how the EU plans to accelerate industrial decarbonisation while boosting economic growth. It is possible to take climate action and invest in growing our economies at the same time.

The European Union has established itself as a leader in climate action and remains committed, looking beyond geopolitical developments, to leading the way working together with international partners, for the benefit of citizens and industries. The planet will not wait for us and we need more ambition now as we are experiencing the hottest year in history, and the extreme weather events associated, not least with the floods in my home country, Spain. In COP29 in Baku, the EU has also pushed for even more global action on climate finance, international carbon markets, transition away from fossil fuels and building resilience to climate change. In a joint statement with the 27 EU Member States, with the support of other 17 countries, we also reaffirmed our commitment to strengthening gender integration in global climate action. Women are disproportionately affected by the impacts of climate change, while also playing a fundamental role in the response to it. Green transition must be just and inclusive.

To tackle the climate crisis, emissions need to be reduced everywhere in the world. The EU is partnering with developing countries to provide them with the support they need to mitigate and adapt to climate change. The EU, its Member States and financial institutions, collectively known as Team Europe, remain the leading contributor of development assistance and the world's biggest climate finance contributor, accounting for about a third of global public climate finance. In 2023, the EU, Member States and the European Investment Bank contributed to climate finance in developing economies with €28.6 billion from public sources and €7.2 billion mobilised from private finance.

The European Union will continue to lead and will continue to do more work. But the simple sheer size of the needs we are facing, and the opportunities are such that they will only be met, if all parties with the capacity to do so will actually join. Everyone who can, (and I am referring here especially to China, already an upper middle income, almost a high-income country, and the largest emitter of greenhouse gases) should contribute as public finance should primarily aim to support the most vulnerable.

So at a time when all countries are gathered in Baku but the outcome of the COP remains uncertain, I would like to call upon China to work closely with the EU. On the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, we made a difference together. Let’s do it again in Baku today. We must set a new financial target to support developing countries in their climate actions.

On climate finance, China’s engagement can be a game-changer for global efforts. But we also need to persevere in ambition. Alongside other ambitious partners from around the world, the Commissioner yesterday reasserted our commitment to deliver Nationally Determined Contributions that are aligned with a 1.5°C pathway. We call on others, in particular other major economies, and it includes China naturally, to raise their ambitions in their own NDCs, so that we deliver on the Paris Agreement.

Dear friends,

Science tells us that climate change is a fact. Last year has also seen more catastrophic events and lost lives and livelihoods, driven by our already changing climate. Inaction cannot be an option: it costs human lives and it is much more costly than action. We need to speed up and substantially increase global climate action. We will continue working further to cut CO2 emissions, reduce pollution, protect biodiversity and the environment, and make more sustainable choices for our societies. Everybody, from governments to companies and citizens, have a role to play.

Thank you.