Ávarp Katrínar Jakobsdóttur forsætisráðherra á loftslagsráðstefnu Sameinuðu þjóðanna 2. desember 2023

Dear collegues, ladies and gentlemen,

As we gather here at COP28, we must recognize that we face serious threats of irreversible change. We must keep our goal, to limit temperature increase to 1,5° C. Iceland welcomes the Synthesis Report by the IPCC and strongly supports its guidance on effective climate action.

We have moved dangerously close to the 1.5 degree target, as we take stock of the Paris Agreement. The good news is that we are seeing a burst of climate action in many countries and economic sectors including a record investment in renewable energy. The price of green technologies is going down. All this is positive.

The bad news is that progress is too slow. We need to do more to cut emissions –  accelerate a clean energy transition, scale up green solutions, increase nature-based solutions and make sure that those who pollute pay. But we also need to do less: Our economic systems are focused on maximizing production and consumption, rather than sustainability and wellbeing. This needs to change.

Transitioning into clean and sustainable energy is critical for the health of our Earth. Iceland supports the phasing out of fossil fuels and subsidies of fossil fuels need to end. We should not burn public money to cook the planet. Instead we should scale up support for clean solutions and just transition.

We need to improve our food systems, alleviate hunger, improve nutrition and lower carbon emissions of food production, especially in developed countries. Blue food from the ocean has great potential in providing quality nutrition with a low carbon footprint.

Iceland does not count among the world’s big emitters, but we have a role to play, not least in advancing green solutions from geothermal utilization to carbon mineralization. Iceland has put into legislation to be carbon neutral by 2040. My government will not issue licences for oil exploration in Icelandic waters. We are implementing a legislation on the circular economy. We have set ambitious climate goals, including working on decarbonizing all major sectors.

Climate action is central to Iceland´s international development cooperation policy and will feature even more prominently in our plan for the next four years. My government is committed to mobilizing increased funding to climate financing. We are proud to take part in the establishment of the new fund for loss and damage and our contribution to begin with will be 600.000 USD. We will also raise contributions to the GCF and Adaptation Fund.

The global community needs to concentrate on the perils of climate change and environmental degradation. The right to a healthy and sustainable environment is a human right and we need to base all our actions on that ground. Let us focus our minds at this important meeting with its global stocktake and give a clear message that we will take do what it takes to safe our planet

Thank you.