Your Excellencies, Ministers and delegates,

Thank you to the African Pavilion for inviting me to speak today.

Before leaving for Belém, I was asked, if I see travelling so far to attend a global conference on climate change, when CO2 emissions are a key contributor to this issue, as a dilemma? 

A fair enough question. But also an oversimplification, because the reality of tackling climate change is anything but simple. It is a multifaceted challenge that demands collaboration and unity among nations.

I strongly believe that our collective efforts matter – they mattered yesterday, they matter today, and they will matter tomorrow. High-level events such as COP30 play a crucial role in fostering collaboration, driving innovation and promoting collective action.

This gives us reason for hope and optimism. And hope and optimism are key drivers of change.

This conference reflects the complexities involved in combating climate change. It’s not solely about reducing CO2 emissions. It is also about strengthening climate adaptation and building resilience. It is about food security, biodiversity and protecting the health of humans and animals. Ultimately saving lives. 

It is about maintaining and amplifying momentum and financing. It’s about scientific advancement, technological transformation, democratic participation and sustaining our shared commitments. 

It’s about global climate action, where all nations and peoples unite for the future of our shared planet and generations to come.

Climate change is real, and it is accelerating faster than anticipated.   

The reports speak for themselves.

They are alarming and deeply unsettling. 

We have not met our climate targets, and we must act faster to prevent our planet from overheating. Yet even though our pace is too slow and our scale too small, we are moving in the right direction.

The UN’s Emissions Gap Report 2025 estimates that the initiatives already taken will spare us from an additional degree of global warming in the long run – and that’s not counting the efforts still to come.

For the first time ever, renewable energy sources such as solar and wind have produced more electricity than coal on a global scale.

And today, investments in green energy are twice as large as those in fossil fuels. Technology itself is reaching a tipping point – where moving from black to green quite simply is the smart choice both economically and planetary. 

The potential for green growth in the future is enormous. 

Today’s launch of the “Adaptation Financing Window for Africa” – AFWA – here in the African Pavillion, perfectly illustrates the potential and the complexity of climate policy.

Africa contributes less than five per cent of global CO2 emissions, yet it is among the most climate-vulnerable regions in the world. Despite this, Africa receives less than five per cent of global adaptation finance – and private investments account for less than five per cent of the total climate finance on the continent.

The Nordic countries, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland and Denmark, have a long tradition of community, partnerships, and collaboration in tackling shared challenges and creating opportunities. 

AFWA is born from this Nordic spirit, with African public and private sector partners playing a central role in addressing the effects of climate change. 

At present, only a fraction of climate investments are dedicated to adaptation.

To prepare our populations, our societies, and our infrastructure for a changing climate, we need investments on an entirely new scale. 

By channelling public funds through private asset managers, AFWA aims to lead the way – demonstrating how private capital can be invested in companies that drive sustainable climate adaptation. 

By taking on part of the investment risk, promising projects can become more bankable, more investment-ready, and more likely to be scaled and succeed. 

The ambition of AFWA is to mobilise more than 100 million US dollars, with contributions from Denmark and the Nordic Development Fund. 

It will not change the global numbers overnight – far from – but it will serve as a scalable business case – a practical example of how to strengthen resilience to climate change across Africa. 

The Investment Mobilisation Collaboration Alliance together with its partners is a new type of shared commitment that is promising for global climate action.

In closing it is important for us to rember …:

That our collected efforts to date have mattered.

That being here in Belém matters.

And that, what we do, how we do it and how quickly we do it from today, really matters.

Thank you.

(Det talte ord gælder)