Excellences, Ladies and Gentlemen,
The fact that climate tipping points and planetary boundaries are nearer than we previously thought, means only one thing: we shall not delay or dilute the Glasgow and Paris agreements. The Glasgow Climate pact is truly ambitious for this critical decade, although we need to go even further and close the book on phasing down unabated coal.
COP27 under the Egyptian leadership hopes to take a step forward on adaptation and on Loss and Damage issues. The Glasgow Pact provides a good framework for this too. After all, to save human lives, both adaptation and mitigation are required.
The present fossil fuel energy crisis only speeds up a decisive push towards climate neutrality through renewable energy. Russian war in Ukraine has inflicted horrible human suffering in Europe and endangered energy and food security globally. In spite of short-term adjustments, the EU remains committed to ambitious 2030 goals.
The era of fossil fuels will give way to the new era of sustainability, circular economy and clean solutions for the simple reason that these solutions will save the most money and make greatest improvements to our living quality.
For us in Estonia, this transition makes perfect sense. Having been totally dependent on fossil fuels, we are now on track to produce 100% of our electricity from renewables by 2030. But this is not all.
We learned during our previous great societal transformation – the building of our digital society – that being smart can multiply the positive impacts of the transformation. So let us do the things we need to do, such as phase out fossil fuels, and also be smart.
Let us make sustainability a core principle of education. Let us design regulations that drive green innovation. Let us build digital societies and use smart technologies in a way that support net zero efforts, tackling also digital waste. Our clean-tech start-up scene has some success stories to share such as software making forestry or agriculture more sustainable or smart solution to improve energy efficiency.
Also, let us be smart with our investments. Climate change knows no borders and neither should our response. Often, the biggest benefits for ourselves and the planet may come from investments outside our national borders. For example, supporting the climate mitigation efforts in the Global South, the Arctic and other areas that are burning, literally or metaphorically.
It is time to think not only locally and regionally but globally.
Thank you!
