"Thank you very much. Ministers, friends. It is very good
to see you today.
Together, the world forged the Paris Agreement in 2015. And
together, at COP26, we must unleash its full potential.
That requires action on mitigation, adaptation, and
finance, and of course enhanced collaboration: those are
our four goals for COP26.
At last year’s Ministerial I made the case for net zero
targets, long term strategies, and ambitious NDCs.
I said developed nations must honour the $100billion goal.
And that adaptation and green recoveries were vital.
These points, friends, still stand. We must deliver
urgently on mitigation and finance. And all countries
should produce adaptation communications.
But today, I want to speak briefly about the importance of
using the road to COP26 to accelerate progress on the
negotiations.
We are all committed to a successful negotiated outcome in
Glasgow.
Which means building consensus beforehand.
On items which, in some instances as you know, we have not
settled in the five years since Paris.
Friends I say this to you very, very frankly - we must do
more than restate stances, or dig-in to entrenched
positions.
We must show compromise and understanding to find that
balanced package which we all want.
That requires political leadership, and it depends on us
working together, to capture solutions that we can bring
with us to Glasgow.
As we have heard from a number of our distinguished
speakers, we must employ all tools available to us.
And I ask you to use our time today, the forthcoming
Petersberg Dialogue, and the June session of the Subsidiary
Bodies to accelerate that progress.
Because it is only through flexibility and leadership that
we can find compromise.
And thereby agree a balanced package that makes the goals
of the Paris Agreement a reality.
We must not let the chance slip. We must act now. The world
is watching. We must not fail."
