Your  Excellencies, Ministers, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Welcome to Copenhagen and welcome to the Global Green Growth Forum. I am extremely pleased and deeply honored to open this historic event. A lot of skill and hard work has gone into making today’s meeting possible, and the impressive number of heads of governments, ministers and high-level participants present here today is a clear reflection of the fact that the Global Green Growth Forum (in short: 3GF) holds enormous promise for the world at large.         

We must now acknowledge that the continued economic growth created by the industrialists, businessmen and craftsmen of the past is no longer automatically sustainable.

Climate changes, scarce resources and a world population that continues to grow, makes it unsustainable to continue business as usual. In fact, according to the UN, world citizen number 7 billion will be born in China two months from now, and by the year 2050 we will be more than 9 billion people in the world.

As a consequence, we need to work towards independence from fossil fuels, because they will eventually run out. But reducing our dependence on oil, gas and coal, requires us to develop an extensive framework for the use of alternative energy sources.

To achieve this goal the public and the private sectors must join forces to promote these alternatives. With the latest technologies at hand, it is up to the governments and businesses to convert research and development into sustainable solutions.

With the Global Green Growth Forum Mexico, South Korea and Denmark have come together and teamed up with an extensive network of business partners and international organisations. Our common objective is to create the grounds for multiple partnerships that are capable of seizing the growth potential of a green economy.

Thank you.