The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, participated in the climate session of Global Citizen NOW, taking place in New York, where she stated that it is necessary to continue working with both the public and private sectors to bring the energy transition to all parts of the world and quickly. For this reason, the EU is already working in an international coalition to approve at COP28 the goal of tripling renewable energy capacity and doubling energy efficiency.

As von der Leyen stated in her speech, this agreement is being created together with the COP28 Presidency, President Ruto of Kenya, Prime Minister Mottley of Barbados, and the International Energy Agency and IRENA. The aim is to establish a global action that shows companies the way forward.

The President of the European Commission stressed that in order to meet the global targets, it is necessary to work with the private sector, beyond the investment of public money from large economies. To this end, in addition to the global renewable energy targets, she presented other important working points: green bonds, carbon pricing and carbon credits.

On the first point, von der Leyen said that global experience shows that green bonds are a key tool in mobilising capital from private investors that want to make investments with a climate-positive impact. “Europe has the biggest and most advanced green bond market in the world. So we have quite some expertise. And we want to now share this expertise with developing economies so that they can create their own green bond markets. In addition, we will invest EUR 1 billion in green bonds of low- and middle-income countries. This has a double effect. We are de-risking the private investment and we are acting as an anchor investor. This could yield up to EUR 20 billion in sustainable investments from the private sector,” she said.

According to the President of the European Commission, carbon pricing fosters innovation by the private sector. It makes polluters pay. And the revenues you get can support the clean transition in developing countries. “We started carbon pricing in the European Union in 2005. Since then, the economy grew by 65% but the CO2 emissions dropped by 35% in the industries that are covered by carbon pricing. Now if you look at the global scenery, globally, only one-quarter of greenhouse gas emissions are covered by carbon pricing. But this quarter brings back revenues of USD 95 billion. Just imagine the global impact in terms of new revenues if more countries would adopt this strategy, the carbon pricing. This could be a game changer for climate finance. And this is our call for action for carbon pricing, that we want to launch. We have launched it in Paris, and we want to have a big push for it at COP28”, said von der Leyen.

Finally, the last point is trustworthy carbon credits. “Carbon credits can truly make a difference to the planet. The crucial idea is: Governments have projects like reforestation or renewable energy or wetlands. Companies can then reward those efforts in addition to their own efforts. They can invest there. But what we need now is an international framework that provides clarity and clear criteria. What are trusted true carbon credits? We started to work on that with the World Bank, the IMF and the WTO. We want to make as much progress as possible by COP28”, von der Leyen explained.

The President of the European Commission hopes that these debates and the new measures will lead to COP28 marking a path to follow, where the major economies assume their responsibility in this global process, and where the role of renewable energies worldwide will be necessary to achieve the desired targets: “Developing economies are a crucial part of the solution to climate change: With a huge potential for renewable and clean energy, and green hydrogen for example, critical raw materials, incredible nature and biodiversity, and their young workforce. So they can leapfrog into a clean energy future while creating good jobs and economic opportunities, provided – and that is the crucial point – there is investment they need in infrastructure.”