- Prime Minister Draghi
- Excellencies
With the outcome of COP-26 still in the balance, the conversation is timely.
The report of the IPCC shows us that it is more or less past time to act.
For the elephant in the room, I will single out finance.
The commitment to mobilize $100 billion a year for green transition in developing countries has not fully materialized, and there is no tangible action in this direction.
This year’s G20 is an opportunity to recall that pledge. We need a delivery plan.
The world’s largest economies contribute almost 80% of worldwide emissions.
Africa is not the main cause of climate change, but we can and must be part of the solution, and we intend to do just that.
In July 2021, a new five-year African Union Green Recovery Action Plan was launched, with renewable energy, biodiversity, and climate finance as its pillars.
There is a need to revise the Nationally Determined Contributions to match this level of ambition.
In Rwanda, we have put a National Cooling Strategy in place to phase out the hydrofluorocarbons that contribute so much to global warming.
This action is in line with the Kigali Amendment to the Montréal Protocol. Fully implementing this agreement is one of the most consequential actions that we can take to slow the pace of climate change.
I hope that the urgency of the climate emergency will guide the discussions at COP-26, starting tomorrow.
I thank you, Mr Prime Minister.