Unlike all the other Climate Change Conferences, COP28 has got off to a good start. Instead of wasting time arguing about the agenda, in cooperation with others we launched the fund for climate loss and damage on the very first day. We have been working towards this for more than a year and a half. This not only shows that persistent climate diplomacy which leads the way and forges alliances pays off. We are also stretching out our hand to the seriously affected countries, which are least responsible for the climate crisis but suffer most from it.

The climate loss and damage fund shows that we as the international community do not have to be paralysed by shock when faced with the scale of the task but are capable of making great leaps forward. I want to take this momentum with me into the final phase of COP28. For we urgently need to clearly correct our course. If we want to keep 1.5 degrees Celsius within reach, we need to triple renewable energy by 2030 and also double energy efficiency. And we need – and this is the most far-reaching and difficult step – a global pledge that we will all phase out the use of fossil fuels. We will fight hard for this in Dubai and turn even the tiniest of cogs where necessary during the negotiations. For wishful thinking won’t reduce global warming by a single tenth of a degree.

The ambitious countries, which are creating new jobs, development and prosperity by restructuring their economies, now stretch from Canada to Kenya. If we can bring even more countries into this dynamic group, we can leave the world of oil and coal behind us as a world of yesterday. And finally overcome the old rifts between North and South. Even though those who are attached to their old ways continue to protest, the old bloc mentality is becoming less relevant by the day. The new alliances we are forging – across continents and living standards – are setting the geopolitical game in motion. If we go about this in the right way, we will not only bolster climate action but also restore trust in a world in which multilateralism gets results. For all of us.