COP 29, Day 3: Small islands reaffirm commitments, and Climate Action Commissioner EU's leadership

Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra also pledged to make Europe's clean energy industry more competitive.

Transcript

00:00It's day three here at COP29. The high ambition coalition led by the Marshall Islands reaffirmed

00:06their climate commitments. Several leaders addressed the summit today, including Italy's

00:10Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni, who emphasized the need to phase out fossil fuels and highlighted

00:15nuclear fusion as a potential game changer. Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama went off

00:21script questioning the purpose of the summit if leaders continue with business as usual.

00:26For the European Union, European Council President Michel already noted yesterday that in 2023

00:32the EU and its 27 member states contributed around 29 billion euros in climate finance.

00:39What role can the EU play at COP29 when it comes to pushing for a more ambitious collective

00:44climate goal? We put the question to the EU Commissioner for Climate.

00:48We have been one of the leaders on climate financing. We have been doing more than our

00:54fair share and we will continue to do so. And yet at the same time we are saying to

00:58interlocutors from across the globe that those with the ability to pay more actually should

01:06take that responsibility. And with Trump wanting the US to withdraw from the Paris agreement,

01:12could this encourage the EU to step up its commitments? We have been leading on this

01:16topic and we will continue to lead. And by the way, we will do our utmost to also engage

01:24proactively and constructively with the new American administration. We have always had

01:30great collaboration with American administrations from the left and the right and we will continue

01:37exactly with doing that. But increasing climate action can also lead to more competitiveness.

01:43So what we see is that if you want to decarbonise, it is a climate strategy but it is actually

01:48also a growth and economic strategy. And new sectors are developing. Think about the

01:54battery industry, think about the wind industry, think about the solar industry. So there is

01:59huge economic potential. What we will do is incentivise and create the space for our companies

02:05to do so and we will more ferociously defend a level playing field within the European

02:10Union. Negotiations are entering a delicate phase

02:14here in Baku with unofficial draft proposals circulating already, divisions, pushbacks

02:20and differing ambitions. The most frequently asked question in the last few hours is what

02:27would a successful COP look like?