 Welcome to the 2021 Green Growth Summit. I'm so glad that you can all join us and for what should be a packed and interesting set of discussions at a key moment in the European calendar. My name is Elliot Wittington. I am the Director of CLG Europe, which is a group of businesses coming together to advance the transition to a sustainable economy and the Green Growth Partnership, which is our partnership with the Green Growth Group of Ministers. We regularly organise these summit sessions. There have been an annual event up until last year, where obviously COVID made a disruptive and awful lot of event plans and activities. We regularly organise these sessions as an opportunity to bring together key European decision makers, members of the Green Growth Group of Ministers who have undertaken a leadership role in terms of expressing ambition and action towards a green transition for the EU and businesses under the leadership of CLG Europe who also support that transition and their direction of travel. This is a space where we can explore how business, government, parliamentarians and others can identify the opportunities in this transition and identify how to move things forward. Usually these events are in person alongside the EU Environment Council, which is taking place tomorrow, but for obvious reasons this time we're undertaking this event as a virtual event. For those of you who haven't already seen it, you can see there are previous events that we've organised on the Green Growth Partnership on our website at corporateleadersgroup.com, so feel free to look at those. Today we have a great set of discussions and I'll just run through the agenda. We're going to start with a really excellent welcome and opening where we talk about the vision for the economy, where the economy needs to be going over the next 10 years, looking at both the climate transition but also thinking about society as a whole. I'm very pleased that we have CISL, which is the organisation which hosts CLG Europe, we have the CEO of CISL leading that session, Claire Shine, and she will be in discussion with Sharon Barrow, General Secretary of the International for UC. I think that's going to be a really interesting sort of start for the conversation. And then we're going to dig into a conversation around the EU's 555 package. I said at the top of this, this was going to be, you know, this discussion is taking place at a key moment. With the 5455 package we have a huge amount of legislation that is going to provide global leadership in terms of legislation across the economy, putting the whole of the EU on track for its 55% target. But there are many questions that can be asked around that much detail that needs to be dug into. So we're going to have a really good conversation with ministers, state secretaries, CEOs, all reflecting on that ambition, all reflecting on that action and how we can move it forward. So a number of voices there will then have a brief break before we resume for our second panel, which we'll talk about the other upcoming moment. The other reason this is key, the road to COP26, obviously that big global summit moment taking place next year. And then we will have concluding remarks from Claire before we wrap up. So as I say, it's going to be a really interesting set of discussions. And I'm glad that you were able to join me for this and what should be it should be a great session. Do feel free to highlight questions through their webinar structure and we will they'll be relayed through me as chair and others. And we'll try and kind of draw them into the conversation in the in the discussion sessions as well. And indeed, many of you have in the audience already kind of put questions forward in advance. And thank you so much for that. So without too much further ado, I want to move us into our first session. So, you know, the title for this session that's been structured as a as a warm fireside chat, it's fast forward. Where should the society and the economy be in 2030? And as I said, we've got Claire Shine, the Director of the Cambridge Institute of Sustainability Leadership, whom I'm very grateful has taken the time to join us. And Sharon Barrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Congress. Sharon is unfortunately grappling with a little bit of technical difficulties. So unfortunately, we might be more listening to her than seeing her. So unfortunately, these things happen by I know Sharon with her expertise in the ITUC, in other kind of key groups such as the B team, the elders and many other partnerships will have a lot of wisdom to share. So I think listening to her will be will be a significant opportunity. Anyway, without too much further ado, let me hand over to Claire to take to lead the next session. Thanks, Elliot. And hello, everybody, wherever in the world that you are. And I'm sorry you can't see Sharon, who is a force of nature. But I'm sure that her energy will come over on the screens. I can hear a slight echo. So if anybody isn't muted, may I be a pain and remind? We have Sharon. This is wonderful. So Sharon, I'm very delighted to see you in person. So this is a quick blockbuster first conversation. You all know that during the pandemic, we've heard a lot about building back better. But we also know that back was flawed for many of the reasons that we understand. Today's discussion is setting the scene to look firmly forward for this summit. What can and must be done to 2030 to build forward better in ways that work for people, nature and climate. So who better to challenge us on future fit leadership than Sharon? She has deep roots in education and now leads the International Trade Union Confederation. And Sharon, we have a really mighty question for you. What should a climate friendly, resource efficient, prosperous and ideal society and economy look like in 2030? So you can enter that huge question from whichever direction you would like. The floor is yours. In 2030, the world has realized the SDGs. We have reduced inequality dramatically. We have set ourselves on a path to decarbonize our future with massive transition by all industries, just transition, beginning with the foundation of energy, but indeed across all technologies and practices. And much of our economies are actually now circular economies in nature where we reuse and we redeploy the material so vital for our survival. But we also have a world where people have rights, human and labor rights, where environmental standards are respected by all of us and where there's due diligence by corporations backed by government legislation and indeed remedy through grievance procedures. So people are no longer subject to oppression and exploitation and we have an ambition once again for full employment, which was kicked off by the UN Secretary General's accelerator, global accelerator, called to action in 2021. It's set on a path in 2021 to have 400 million new jobs, decent work and to formalize at least half of the informal economy around 1 billion people. 2030 sees us on track to changing the whole base of our society, both in terms of the way we respect each other, the production technology and indeed that vital commitment to sharing prosperity through minimum living wages, collective bargaining and social protection. This is the world that we have been fighting for. So let me jump in there and let's focus in right now on the how because that's a utopia that few would disagree with and I'm really interested to think about the role of critical stakeholders and taking that forward. Can you focus a little bit on what kind of partnerships you think with companies and investors could play a real accelerator role in this direction? So 2021 is the year for decisions. We are coming in just a few weeks from the climate conference COP26 in Glasgow, but if investors aren't looking at where they're investing, with an ESG lens, all investment, not that kind of local green economy, but environment, social and governance standards that actually deploy the base of all investment and then engagement and due diligence is followed up by taking responsibility to meet those environmental standards to see decarbonisation happen to ensure just transition and the right space future. We've got some 40 trillion dollars clear of workers capital pension funds in the global economy and we want it to be invested for good returns, but we want it to be invested on the basis that it won't be party to environmental destruction or indeed to were oppression in corporations or supply chains of working people. So bringing these different pieces into interconnection is critically important. I often say that we talk so much about the climate crisis, but it's a nature climate crisis and you talked about the need for a just transition. So there are many sectors that may not see themselves or many stakeholders that may not see themselves in the sustainability space who are absolutely pivotal to achieving this transition. So how is the International Trade Union Conference or Confederation going about putting momentum into that change across the ecosystem of the economy? So consider that before COVID-19 we already had a convergence of crisis where historic levels of inequality, a broken labor market where 60 percent of our global workforce is informal. It actually has no guarantee of rights, minimum wages or income, no social protection, no rule of law and now emerging internet mediated or platform businesses are actually informal businesses. And of the 40 percent we have indeed only got two-thirds of those with some sort of security. So precarious work is the norm and if you think about the sharing of our prosperity so it can build communities through demand it can ensure families can live with dignity. Look over the last 40 years of our global model and labor income shares like a roller coaster going downwards. So that tells you that we had those levels of inequality that must be addressed for everybody's security for resilience but also for business to have some sense of continuing capacity to function and grow. We had the climate emergency and now we have COVID-19 and that's exposed these fault lines in our economy plus the massive underfunding of health and care, health, education, childcare, age care. These are interrelated crises we have to deal with them in an interrelated way. The roadmap is the SDGs and the Paris climate agreement but unless governments raise their ambition unless people build trust in the transition because they know just transition is a reality we're not going to be in the race to save the planet or to in fact reduce the social tension that people are feeling from despair. Yeah I mean we've seen in very acute ways how certain things act as a threat multiplier with the poorest the most vulnerable in society are obviously the most at risk from the impacts of climate change we've seen that on the health space with COVID. So looking forward there is clearly a situation where a viable economy and living and living a livable and living planet society require these pieces to move together. Can you talk a little on how you're looking at the European package that is being proposed and how you think both for Europe and for the wider world that could potentially serve a beacon role? Well for workers we've said that we need a new social contract there are five key demands they are in fact jobs jobs and jobs are returned to the ambition of full employment climate friendly jobs such as transition they're about human and labour rights they're about social protection universal social protection that's not indeed a safety net but it's part of our fabric of solidarity and of course a quality of income gender and race we can't do any of the things around our fifth demand which is inclusive and the dignity of inclusion unless we achieve as I said the SGG is the Paris climate agreement and we see mandated due diligence with grievance and remedy we've built an 80 billion dollar CSR industry clear but it's failed people it's failed the environment because what it does is corporations outsource audits and of course those audits tell CEOs what they want to know this has to be indeed business practice embedded you know we need rights we need just transition guidelines we need the social dialogue and Europe's on track with many of its initiatives will it actually have the courage to see them through we'll see but the promise of mandated due diligence the social and environmental taxonomy the social pillar of rights and now a commitment to indeed increase the minimum living wage and collective bargaining but also on top of that going beyond which is if you look at the UK in in Wales and Scotland they've already gone beyond GDP they're already looking to indeed be accountable to people for the way they spend their money and what on and how it benefits both people and the economy so this is the future we want so for my final question you touch on Wales and I've always been inspired by the fact that they were one of the few countries in the world to create a commissioner for future generations the paradigm shift that you're talking about you talked about trust you talked about the risk that this huge industry of CSR is not delivering or being seen as transparent or trustworthy and I heard this week a great comment from somebody right in the middle of this field saying the risk is that we do the wrong thing better so if your final contribution to this summit I will be interested to know what you think the first priority the right thing needs to be now to absolutely clear this movement for change that can reach out across sectors and players so indeed the Wales commissioner is inspiring and Sophie talks about the good ancestor test what do we want to deliver collectively as good ancestors we want our workers to have secure jobs our children and our grandchildren we want them to be based on quality public education we want them to have access to free health care high quality health care and we want them to be indeed able to judge able to be confident that the planet is on track for sustainability if we get these things right if we put in place human and labour rights due diligence with indeed the UN human rights guidelines for business test that means compliance and it means remedy if we get the climate crisis under control because the partnerships through social dialogue and just transition are there with business labour and government and if government uses its legislative power but also its procurement power to make sure that our future is not dominated by corporate monopoly is not dominated by exploitation is not dominated by greed and environmental destruction we'll get to that 2030 vision that's fantastic Sharon it's a real call to action both in terms of its global overview bringing that back down to the regional scale and also thinking about the different levers for change all of which tease up Elliot and the great panel that's coming up which we'll be focusing on the transformational change so thank you Sharon I'm so glad we saw you in the flesh and now I'm going to pass right back to Elliot to take off our first panel thank you Claire thank you Sharon that was a great start to the session a great start to this the discussion some really big themes ambition accountability you just transition these are these are very much kind of core topics that I think we will be working with and building on as we move forward so if I'm going to move us on to our first discussion session which will be around on and around the 555 package a transformational change climate people and the economy can the 555 package deliver so I mean as I start this session I think there's a few things I want to say so firstly I should say and I welcome the audience I want to note that we have a large number of you here on go to webinar but also a large number watching through the LinkedIn stream so I'm great to have both audiences or all that breadth of audience with us I also want to acknowledge the fact that their partnership rests on the support of business but also supported governments we're very grateful to the support of the the German BMU the government of the governments of Finland of Luxembourg and of Norway who have helped make this event in this discussion possible and so now if I move us on to talk about the 555 package which seems to be something that I consistently have a problem in saying lots too many apps it's worth saying that we have in COG Europe been looking closely at the package been looking closely at the announcements that have made the first round of announcements that have been unveiled by the commission and I think what really stands out to us so we produced this new report which we just launched today we show some of our kind of key analysis what really stands out to us is the scale the breadth the interlinkage of the package it is a genuinely kind of inspiring attempt to deliver on the EU's 55 percent target but we do believe that there's more that can be done we believe there are missed opportunities to really seize on synergies that exist between different policy mechanisms we think there is more ambition that can be identified in areas like energy efficiency and electrification of transport and we also think that there are kind of key issues such as the just transition so looking at the impact on different communities the costs and and job impact on different communities and the opportunities created by the separate economy all of these themes could be could be looked at more closely do have a look at that report it does have a have a lot to say we also say in this report we also say that business does have a key role in supporting the this this package as it goes forward and I think there is a number of things that businesses in the corporate industry are already kind of saying but other businesses could also say around the fact that this package has to be treated as a package so it you can't if you're if you're seeing one area kind of that you want to see changes on bear in mind that that requires a whole package to adjust to make sure it delivers the overall level of ambition the fact that this should be part of and indeed very much fits into the green deal as a growth strategy for Europe so this is about generating new opportunities building new industries for the future and the fact that again business has a key role to play in terms of ensuring the the inclusive inclusive element the justice element is respected that we are thinking about the impacts on different communities one of the key areas there is thinking very much about skills agenda and ensuring that the economy as a whole can grow and that people are are re-skilled and upskilled and able to be able to provide the workforce that we need but also that they're able to get into into the new jobs that are created the new opportunities that are created so I do urge people to to look at that and I hope you will have some interesting reflections on the conversation we're about to have to start that conversation we have we asked them from the commission to come and present a package to us and we were very grateful to get a video from Executive Vice President Franz Timmermans who obviously is the close friend of CLG Europe and the Green Growth Partnership and the kind of key lead for this area of work so Vice President Timmermans has a has a few words to say in terms of talking about what the package is trying to achieve but also the context that it's landing within so without too much further ado I want to hand David to that video. Good afternoon and many thanks to the Green Growth Partnership for inviting me to speak today. The European Union is aiming to move to a fully circular economy to restore biodiversity and to become the first climate neutral continent by 2050. To set ourselves firmly on track we have an intermediate target of a 55 percent reduction in net emissions by 2030 which is now enshrined in the European climate law which makes our targets legally binding on all member states. Our ambition is high and we're moving fast to make things happen on the ground. Early summer we released a large package of proposals that will make it possible for the EU to reach the minus 55 percent target. Our proposals bring a fundamental transformation across society in all sectors of our economy to confront the climate crisis head on. We will ensure a just transition that will leave no one behind. The Green Deal is a growth strategy and one where environmental economic and social sustainability go hand in hand because for too long they simply did not. This strategy will create new jobs and massive economic opportunities. It will provide more certainty to boost investment and innovation so that industry can lead the transition. European companies are part of the solution by investing in green technologies. You can take responsibility, grow your business and make a huge contribution to the green transition which is absolutely inevitable. The package strengthens our emissions trading system and puts a price on carbon in more sectors. This will bring significant additional revenues through auctioning of ETS allowances so that we can finance a smoother and fair transition. Our proposals support greater renewable energy and energy savings. They facilitate growing sales of clean vehicles and transport fuels boosting green supply chains and economies of scale and simply making clean solutions cheaper. The package also prevents carbon leakage via the new carbon border adjustment mechanism. Nobody is better off if our efforts here to bring down emissions simply pushes these emissions and the production that causes them across our borders. None of the measures we've proposed will be easy and while they all bring clear benefits we do face a difficult transition a bloody hard one frankly in a society where short termism dominates so many debates we need to have the courage to take the decisions that help us in the long term. Our children and grandchildren demand it. The energy price sites we see across the European Union put great pressure on governments and industry and frankly our citizens. They make it attractive to say let's hold off on these expensive green measures but in reality we need to double down our efforts. Had we had the Green Deal five years ago we would already be less dependent on fossil fuels and thus less vulnerable to these kinds of market situations. Soon the world will gather at the COP26 in Glasgow. They will see that Europe has a plan and is committed to carry it through and reap the benefits of climate action. The recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change confirmed the extreme urgency. We can still keep the 1.5 centigrade Paris goal in reach while lessening the impacts of climate change if we act fast. This is a truly global effort. We need our partners to share the sense of urgency and raise their ambition as well. And we need global solidarity. The EU and its member states provide over 40% of the world's public climate finance. Other donors need to follow suit and private finance needs to mobilise as well. To fight the climate crisis we know the objective and we have a plan to get there. Now everyone else needs a plan as well. I wish you all a very fruitful and interesting summit and look forward to continuing our work together. So hopefully this is a some a couple of great starting inputs for a discussion that should be fruitful and interesting. So without too much further ado I want to move to the first set of panellists that we're going to hear from and we're going to hear sort of introductory remarks from each of them. So I'm going to start with a firm friend of the Green Growth Partnership member of the Green Growth Group and are you know normally our hosts when we have run these sessions in Luxembourg. Carol Dyshberg Minister for the Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development in Luxembourg. Carol over to you. It would be interesting to hear your thoughts on this topic in this discussion. Thank you so much Elliot and it's a pleasure dear ladies and gentlemen the panelist to be with you at this Green Growth Summit 2021. So in order to answer the question will this deliver I think there's no doubt that the Fit455 package is a key set of legislation which is very much needed to put into real life practices the long-term goal of a climate neutrality by 2050 of the European Green Deal. And I think that the overall ambition of the package seems to be going into the right direction also in my opinion some of the elements could clearly benefit from further strengthening. So and let me make one remark if it comes to the climate crisis and the urgency we need it's clear that we need to make both decisions and we need to be quick so even if we are only at the beginning of the negotiations of this package a rapid agreement on the various legislative proposals of this package is necessary in order to ensure that the implementation of the package both deepens and broadens the decarbonisation across all economic sectors and this well before 2020-30. And it's clear dear colleagues in France that decarbonisation will affect the entire society and the entire economic spectrum more than we've ever seen. So a deep transformation lies before us but I also see and I'm happy to see that the majority of the economic actors has fully recognised this and is already seizing the opportunity that lies ahead of us in order to be frontrunners. As co-legislates that together with the European Parliament the Council now has to make sure that we provide a strong and also a predictable framework leading us all towards climate neutrality and we note that this switch from fossil fuels to a decarbonised society has clearly also impact on our citizens and this is why it will be crucial for us as politicians to ensure that no one's left behind and this huge transformation ahead of us will be just so let me quickly go into some elements of the package. One important new element is the creation of the new emission trading scheme for building and road transport and all those who I've seen before during the last month see that my opinion is that we have to have a better EU ETS and we now have a new ETS and I think that carbon pricing is undoubtedly a key policy instrument but I'm still wondering and asking if this separate ETS for road transport and housing is the right way to go especially if you look at the social impact so we have to look at this very carefully. Rising transport and heating prices will be felt by our population and I think we have to take care that this instrument will be developed in a way where we will take care of those who will be impacted so the distribution of the ETS revenues via the social climate fund has to be addressed in a careful manner. Another thing that I would like to highlight is that we have to make sure that even if we have these new ETS there is still a very strong need for strong policy instrument in the sector of transport and housing like for instance strong performance standards for cars and van. It is precisely such standard and mechanism together with the incentives that are key to accelerate the transition on the transformation that we need. Therefore the revision of the regulation on CO2 emission performance standards for cars and van is crucial and unfortunately on this point I'm convinced that we have to have a higher level of ambition. I had hoped that for a much earlier exit date than 2030 furthermore the proposal for standards for trucks is missing and I see a lot of opportunities if we shift for a mission free transport sector if we invest into the right direction into new infrastructure into renewables so there especially I see a lot of opportunities. I like the speakers previously let me also make the link to the SDGs but also to resource efficiency and the circular economy because circular economy and climate neutrality are closely linked and circular economy will open up a lot of opportunities into net zero transition so it will bring economic benefits including the creation of sustainable green jobs and here again the link to the cars and to the batteries and if we are in the frontrunners in that sector producing the safest batteries this can only be good for our competitiveness. However for me it remains to be seen whether the inter-linkages are sufficiently addressed in this proposed framework so let me come to an end so in general terms I believe it is in our all interest be it in the government economic actors and citizens to make sure that the FIT455 package provides strong enough incentives that encourage new economic models promote climate-friendly solutions and while at the same time we support a just transition by doing this and being quick and bold I'm sure that Europe will lead by example so thank you for your attention. Thank you so much Carol, white words as always the opportunity and the necessity to lead by example. It's a great great note to finish on so I'm going to keep us moving we're going to hear from each of the panelists in turn and then we will have time for a few questions spread around amongst the panelists so I'm going to move us on to our next contributor another minister so we've got Andreas Vizac, minister from the Environment and Spatial Planning from Slovenia, very glad you could join us and over to you. Thank you very much Elliott for work dear Green Growth Summit participants. It is my pleasure to address you just one day before the environmental council where my colleagues and I have first formal discussion on the FIT455 legislative package. With European Green Deal the EU has set an ambitious goal of becoming the first climate neutral continent by 2050 in order to reach the long-term goals for the Paris Agreement of the Paris Agreement. Unfortunately one month before the climate conference COP26 in Glasgow the last science scientific reports tell us that collectively the world is not on the track to limit the global warming on 1.5 degrees. For that we will need much deeper emission reduction already by 2030. The proposed package that we have in front of us follows the goal of enhance 2030 emission reduction target that will enable the EU to continue to the global leader in the fight against climate change. However this package is also about making transformative change in our economy and society. We need to direct Europa towards inclusive and sustainable growth in this complex time of economic recovery. We stand at a crucial crossroad rather than doing business as usual. We should size this moment to build truly sustainable circular and resilience economy and society. But to achieve this ambitious goal all sectors and all stakeholders will need to contribute especially the business. We need to work hand in hand and opportunity like this are a valuable contribution on our common path to green transition. With this in mind the Slovenian presidency of the council is now steering the discussions on the fit for 55 package into next phase where discussions are getting more detailed at the working parties. As more and more details of the proposed climate and energy framework are considered we must not lose the big picture fit for 55 is an ambitious and crucial step in the right direction. The presidency is facing a challenging task of carefully leading the discussions across various council formations in order for all major elements is reduced climate and energy framework namely carbon pricing increased target and stronger regulation are carefully calibrated and harmonized. As I follow as I followed the discussion so far member states have pointed out that the about set elements including carbon pricing should fit several preconditions first they should be adequate to achieve the set climate targets. Second they should at the same time not harm competitiveness of the economy and third they should prevent negative social consequences for the households. To conclude I follow it follows that support measures are key if we want fit for 55 to succeed. Slovenian presidency will make sure that these and other issues will be carefully considered as fit for 55 is taking shape. Our aim is to progress as much as possible on the files. I am very much looking forward to hearing your views and reflections on the proposals as business sector is a crucial partner which will ensure the EU reaches ambitious emission reduction targets. I wish you fruitful discussion on the Green's Law Summit and thank you very much for attention. Thank you Mr. Deputy Jack I'm very glad that you could join us I understand that you won't unfortunately be able to stay for the discussion but those contributions were very helpful and very interesting to hear particularly your reflections given the presidency that you're currently leading or of course you will be leading. So you talked very clearly about the role that business community has so without too much further ado I want to move on to our next speaker who is representative of that business community. I'm very pleased to welcome Rafael Mateo Alcala. So Rafael if you're able to turn your screen on and join us who is the Chief Executive Officer of Axiona Energia. So the energy section of the Axiona active member of the COG Europe and readily engaged in the Green Growth Partnership. So I would be very keen to hear from you your thoughts on this discussion and your contributions. Thank you very much for the invitation to participate in this very interesting panel. Over the past few decades the scientific evidence has proved that the global warning was a very real thing and yet evidence in hand we have navigated through different phases that have prevented us from taking action to put an end to the climate emergency. First we had climate denier contradicting or ignoring the scientific consensus. Now we are going through climate delay with many making long term goals and promises that not warranty and a scenario in which the world becomes net zero by 2050. In reality that we need today is climate determination. This becomes more and more limited in our carbon budget streams by the day. The IPCC made it very clear last month when they stated that this was the last report to be published while there is still time to stay below the 1.5 degrees objective. And the cost of standard steel is huge and measurable. To put it into the context according to the Bill Gates Foundation in the next decade or two the economic damage caused by climate change will likely be as bad as having a COVID-19 pandemic every 10 years and by the end of the century even much worse. The European Union has today the chance to lead the world in the right direction through the historical piece of legislation that is the fit for 55 package. It's the first time that a major economy area of the world has comprehensively reflected the measures needed to avoid the most adverse climate scenarios and its impacts on other nations. It can drive the net zero revolution. In other words the package has the chance to become in the definition of climate determination. The European Union's position as one of the largest economy in the world means that coordinated policies at the European level can drive the transformation towards climate neutrality at home and abroad. The package is considering the impact that growing levels of ambition and a higher carbon price may have on businesses and how potentially adverse impacts could be best mitigated making it a well-grounded legislative measure. Here's the thing the fit for 55 is not only necessary to drive the change it also makes sense from the business's point of view. Through it the European Union recognizes the autotonous resources that will be the most important cornerstone in the transition the renewal energy technologies. In fact in Europe is efficient that we move towards an scenario where we are less dependent on resources that we don't have. Let's see these days. In 2019 the European Union imported 22 billion euros of energy products. I invite all of you to imagine what we could do if we relocated all this money in the green economy. Indeed the package generates a multi-structural opportunities in the energy sector and also in all the economy sector with a multi-decade view. It's creating growing focus from governments on green infrastructure and balloning markets for pure place sustainability investments. The outcomes are very remarkable. The energy transition is an industry generator. Job generator is the answer to the necessary post pandemic recovery. To achieve these measures included in the package one thing will be crucial the social acceptance of the clean energy. It will be essential that efforts to highlight their value and positive impact compared with the fossil basis system. In the substitution markets like the European Union where there is still a large dependence on carbon emitting sources the energy transition requires a change in the mentality of all and this is the challenge itself. And by change we mean the literal definition of the world something that moves us beyond our comfort zone and that of course we require an adjustment period. Now we are seeing the 90s movement from many stakeholders when what is truly necessary is that citizens corporations and governments become involved in the transition as the inaction cost of maintaining the state to school could be devastating. But social acceptance is not the only barrier faced by our sector. Renewal energy faces two main challenges and this is not the technology or the finance or the cost. The challenge is the permitting and the rates in Europe is simply is very difficult not to permit new plans fast enough to meet its renewable energy targets and it must go hand in hand with the development of electricity rates that are essential for the integration of renewals and for the electrification if the measures are not implemented the achievement of the decarbonization walls will be not possible. To wrap up let me end on a very hopeful note although everything is yet to be done under the wing of the European Union determination we have the chance to unleash the potential that comes from being a pioneer in something revolutionary the emerging new green economy that will position ourselves at the forefront of the very inevitable climate responsibility. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. I think it's in really powerful themes there from from the social acceptance of this change through to this kind of keynote that we just have to get on we have to implement it but the huge opportunities that that implementation will create thank you for those those comments and we will call on you again to when we when we move to the questions and discussion part of the panel but I'm going to move us on to our next panelist so if I could ask Pascal Confin MVP and leader of chair of the environment committee Pascal great to have you always always you always have key insights to share so great to have your contributions on this topic well thank you well the objective is to share a few thoughts about the fit for 2030 package as we call it in the parliament because as you probably know we negotiated in the climate no more than at least 55 actually we negotiated 56.6 reduction of future emissions by 2030 and we are very supportive of the climate package of July as a whole and I'm personally very supportive for instance of the standards for cows and I think the balanced approach of the commission between dates of 2030 2035 or 2040 for the end of thermal vehicles and non-zero emissions vehicles pushing putting on the table 2035 is the right compromise because I think 2040 is too late for climate but 2030 is too early in terms of industrial change and capacity to radically change from let's say a market share of somewhere 10 12 15% to 100 so that's why I'm very supportive of the balanced approach of the commission which I think is both ambitious and practical on other elements of the package I'm very supportive as well in the parliament of the carbon border adjustment mechanism it's been widely supported in the parliament in the recent years and for the first time we have it for real and that's very good of course there will be a discussion with our partners that's why we keep saying that we want and everybody wants a WTO compatible carbon border adjustment mechanism and that's our reading of the proposal from the commission that it is WTO compatible it is mirroring the ETS which is exactly what we need it's not a tax and having such a tax wouldn't be WTO compatible because precisely we do not have the domestic tax we have domestic carbon price and that wouldn't make sense to have something that wouldn't be aligned with what we have domestic because that the exactly what the WTO will not accept so I don't expect massive change regarding the CBAM from the parliament but probably a CBAM that will be more stringent in terms of timing or in terms of scope or in terms of what do we do with not only with the commodities but also with the transformed products and finished products finished products and so on and so on so working more on not not the details because there are no details but working more on the practicalities of how to implement the CBAM which scope with speed which speed then questioning the principle itself and then I'm not going to elaborate on all the 50 year the 2030 package but the remaining part of course is the ETS reform and then as you might know I'm very skeptical about the extension of ETS to housing heating and to road transport I'm very skeptical because we have quite substantial analysis of the very limited climate impact it has and on the contrary we all know and actually the sequence we are in on the energy price is another element moving in that that I'm going in that direction do we know the very high sensitiveness of political parties and of governments because of reactions within the society on rising energy price for housing for heating sorry and for fuel so that's why I consider that at the end of the day the cost the political cost is very high when the climate gain is very low and at the end of the day why I consider that it doesn't work that much that's why the impact on climate is quite low it's precisely because households are not economically rational so we I am very supportive of the carbon pricing for corporate so that's why we are very supportive of the first ETS of the current ETS and the higher carbon price we have now for the last year I would say start having concrete impact and start being in the zone where it creates real incentive to shift the industrial processes from high carbon to zero carbon well it's the starting point but we are now where we should be compared to previously where we were at 5, 10, 15, 20 euros which doesn't make any sense in terms of investment re-education we are supportive of that I am supportive of that because companies are economically rational they are able to calculate 10 years profitability rate they are able to fire and hire they are able to change their suppliers and so on and so on one household will not fire its kids because it becomes too expensive to go to school to get the kids to school and then to go to work by car because you live 40 kilometers away of the city center so what works for corporates does not work for households and that's the basic difference and the basic opposition I would say I have with the Commission view comments and then that's why we are working in the environment to recalibrate this part of the reform we need the extension of ETS precisely to have options on the table and we are in the analysis space and probabilistic for a couple of weeks and then in November we will be able to put options on the table with one key constraint and one key element which is we will not go off course for something that would water down the climate ambition so any change in the reform should secure the climate integrity of the reform it's an obvious thing for me for the inequality and so that's my analysis of where we are now in this for the 2030 package and maybe the last word will be that this package is one piece of an even bigger picture and it's important that we keep the bigger picture in mind because the green deal as a whole it's more than 50 laws 50 European regulation so that will be changed reviewed or introduced between now let's say last year 2020 up to the end of 2020 we have green finance we have the energy package we have things that will be coming in December on buildings and so on and so on so the fit for 2030 package is one piece one piece on an even bigger bigger picture that we should all have in mind because what we are going to start delivering is really unprecedented and I think we could be proud of it thank you Pascal excellent and thank you to the whole panel I think that's been a great series of inputs and discussion starters and I sort of while there are a number of issues where people have taken a slightly different tack which is natural particularly this stage in terms of the policy development cycle I think there's a great commonality to this conversation particularly I'm going to pull out the fact that there is I think all speakers have talked about the importance of keeping up that level of ambition in a big complicated multifaceted package we need to make sure that whatever changes whatever actions take place with the ambition level now we're going to I will want all the panelists to come back and listen but before we kind of go into a broader discussion I have a first respondent which is Wendell Wendell Trier the director of Can Europe who can give us a bit of a perspective from the NGO community on some of these conversations and some of these perspectives over to you Wendell Thank you Elliot and thank you for giving me the opportunity to say a few words I think that the previous speakers as you already indicated Elliot have raised many of the key messages that we need to see around 255 also from an NGO perspective I think that's a number of issues where very clear including the fact that the fit for 55 is a unique opportunity to actually address the climate change challenge and that we need to be aware and I think the summer impacts that we've seen in many European countries of climate change has really highlighted the need for action if we are to support the social model that we're currently having in Europe because the impacts will be hard and the impacts will be especially hard for those most vulnerable also in Europe but of course also abroad and I think it's important to see the fit for 55 package and the different pieces of legislation also as an opportunity an opportunity an economic opportunity a social opportunity and an opportunity for environment to revive and I think it's very important that we need to look at the social impacts both the social impacts of climate action but also the social impacts of inaction and also look at the just transition from that perspective and status quo can never be a just transition in the current situation because again those most vulnerable will be impacted hardest by an inaction on climate change now for some not people in this panel but people in the outside world the the package might seem challenging but nevertheless it is only a starting point because as has been said the UN framework Convention on Climate Change has made an assessment of all the different plans that countries in the world have for the near future between now and 2030 and their message has been clear with the current plans we're heading towards 2.5 or even 2.7 degrees of warming by the end of the century something we definitely don't want to envisage and instead I think that it's great to hear that all speakers have stressed the need to stick to the 1.5 degrees objective of the Paris Agreement which means that all countries will need to look at what can they do more all countries in particular a number of international partners that have not really come forward with new promises on new pledges but also the EU will need to look at what can it do more and there the fit for 55 is an opportunity to look at what can we improve and in that sense I would like to call on the co-legislators but obviously also on all other stakeholders and in particular businesses to look at how can we improve and increase each and every file in the package to see how it can actually help us to go well beyond the 55 percent emission reductions and as NGOs we prefer to go towards an emission reduction of minus 65 percent and so each and every file whether it's renewables whether it's energy efficiency whether it's the ETS or the effort sharing regulation each and every of those files has an opportunity to increase the level of emission and one of the tools to do that is really to look and recognize where we are at the moment because the real economy goes faster than what our legislations sometimes foresee and even while I recognize that there's a bit of an impact of the covid restrictions it seems that very likely the EU will reach minus almost minus 35 percent of net emission reductions in 2020 which gives us a huge step forward as to the 20 percent that was envisaged and makes going beyond 55 percent really possible if we include the real world emissions into the legislation rather than start the legislation from the unrealistic 20 percent as some of the proposals currently do so a clear message yes we believe this is an opportunity yes we believe that ambition is necessary and it is possible and we recall on everybody to make this happen thanks. Thank you Wendell and actually I would suggest you stay with us for the panel discussion we're going to so if Carol Pascal Raphael can join us again I think Andrea has has left so do turn on your videos and stay with us and we'll have a short kind of five ten minutes quick reflection on some of those questions Carol maybe if I can start with you I think one of the kind of key questions that was picked up was this question around competitiveness and you touched I think almost all the speakers touched on it but I know that if I think about the two ministerial contributions that I think you probably took talked more about the positive side of competitiveness and of course then those concerns that are also expressed about that how would how would you see the opportunities around competitive you know what what do you see that the package needs to do to ensure that European competitiveness develops and prosperous going forward. So I see basically if you ask me if I think it's good for competitiveness if we stay at the front from the side because if you look what happened for instance if it comes to the car sector Europe has not been leading for instance and that's why I mentioned the circular economy also having the whole chain being looked at if it comes to the battery sector but if we will be able to to to be front running and have the best to save us and the sustainable for instance battery production in Europe I think this is good for sustainable jobs the same goes for circular economy the same goes for renewables for housing and also for the electrification of cars as a whole that's why I think putting more ambition in some part of this package is an opportunity for the competitiveness of our economy and it's not only leading to a safe order because this is what we need I think when we'll touch on it and so so many colleagues touched on it we need to stick in order to have a safe word for future generation but also for us living now because everyone still remembers the floodings this year also extreme events fires it's a questionable survival and also sustainability of being able to have been gross and jobs in Europe and I think every single thing I saw for instance if it comes to circularity is that it's creating more jobs if you stay with the front from us so for me it's clear that this package has to be negotiated quickly in order to be the framework because business is asking us a predictable and a clear framework and that's where we have cool sorry I'm conscious that Monsieur Coffin has to has to leave fairly soon so I just wanted to come to him for one quick question just I feel that the question of impact on people has been a really key part of this section he talked about it Pascal others talked about it and we heard about it from Carol just then in terms of you know climate impacts we're hearing about energy prices we're hearing about which is a new job from your perspective as a parliamentary what would you say a sort of some of the key concerns of key thoughts as to how we might engage normal people about the benefits and opportunities in this package well just two answers the first one building on what Mandel said I mean we shouldn't compare the climate action scenario and the business as usual scenario because just there is no business as usual anymore possible so we should compare the cost of inaction and the cost of action and the benefits of action and the benefits of inaction and that's where all the studies all the studies we have tend to to conclude that the cost of inaction is much higher than the cost of sorry the cost of inaction is much higher than the cost of action and the social injustice within the EU and even more globally of inaction is even higher than the climate action so that's the first thing and it's important that we compare two things that make sense otherwise you just compare things like that which is real which something which is not realistic anymore. Second as Franz Timmermans says the transition will has to be just or there will be no just just no transition and he's right and that's precisely why I'm not in favor of the extension of the second ETS because it is completely anti redistributive from a social perspective and then you have to create a massive fund to compensate the problem you are creating and then you start having transfer union and then you start having people saying well I'm not in favor of transfer union so you it's very very complicated to handle but we try to of course take this social justice into account so the best way to take it into account is to design a carbon market extension which doesn't have any anti redistributive effects which is the best way to have the to limit the social justice or not social injustice impact then beyond this we have as you all know the transition fund just transition fund already in place already working so I can tell you that we are all aware all aware that the just transition element is a key dimension of the acceptability of the transition and we are in the parliament who will do everything we can to have that up to the very end of the negotiation. Thank you I'm just going to bring the last two panelists in for a brief word so Raphael you talked a lot about the opportunities we've heard about the importance of green jobs what do you think the role of businesses in terms of making sure that there are people have the right skills for new jobs to take advantage of the shifting economy yes sure there is a big opportunity in terms of jobs so the most important thing of their renewals is not yet they are clean they are local and so we are we are when we are developing renewals in Europe we are creating economy GDP and jobs qualified jobs in Europe we are not paying money to the middle east to import gas so let me put the image that we are importing gas to burn we are doing fire with with the gas or with the coal or with the fuel that we are importing a lot of money every year all the country group importing fossil fuels to be used as a fire to disappear so we we can use a small part of the money that we are using for importing fossil fuels to develop the industry to develop the local industry let me say that the most important manufacturers of wind are european so to develop jobs to create qualified jobs to create very distributed in the territory activity in order to increase our GDP not just to reduce our CO2 emissions so that's clear that the renewals are creating a new economy basically in autonomous resources the the the advantage of the renewals is they are clean but they are unlimited and they are local so we need them to spend money in other markets in not european markets the the problem that we are suffering now in europe with the gas price is that we were basing our transition in a product that we don't have so we are today depending on the prices of the gas and the prices of the gas are not in in our hands probably if we accelerate in the if we had accelerated in the last five to ten years the penetration of the renewals our dependency were less today and the impact of the gas prices in the european economy should be less so we need to create jobs create the renewals because it's our richness thank you so much wendell last word to you on this um so you talked very kind of clearly about the need for action and you talked about uh international leadership i think a number of panellists talked about this idea of setting an example and one of the things i'm going to ask is this is a big complicated policy discussion how quickly can we do we need to move forward with this is it better to to go fast it's better to keep the to focus more on doing it properly what's your sense in terms of the timing implications of this conversation yes thanks well this is obviously a very challenging question because we need actually both we need high quality um we need to make sure that the policy that is put in place is really going to be robust um also because we just had most of these policies being developed a couple of years ago um and unfortunately that wasn't the basis of a target that was really low the minus 40 percent and now a few years later we have to redo it and and that we shouldn't do again i think now the the legislation should be robust and and allow for for some flexibility at the same time it needs to be relatively fast because the legislation is already being implemented so um we're moving forward and currently we're moving forward still on the basis of the old target and the longer we wait the more difficult it will be actually to catch up so in that sense i believe that and really i would hope that the co-legislators manage to come to their final positions relatively early already in the next year and that we can get real negotiations running in 2022 potentially even finalizing it next year if that is possible so so for us there is definitely a level of urgency that is needed also because we of course see the continuation of climate impacts and it's now that things need to change thank you Randall thank you Randall thank you all the panelists um that's been a really good conversation the fit 55 composition doesn't stop here so we have so many contributors on this that i'm going to move this onto a second round of inputs so if i can if i can thank this current round of panelists and um for your very helpful contributions and and ask you to virtually leave the stage by turning your screen off and i'll move on to our our next next speaker our next input um so i'm very pleased to be joined uh by uh christin mcconan and minister of the environment and climate change from finland um and so our next green growth minister and another supporter of this event christa if i could invite you to to turn your screen on and join us this conversation share your thoughts on the fit 55 package uh yes of course it's a video message at this point so i'm just going to allow us to kind of hear that message dear colleagues and participants of the summit first of all i'm very sorry for not being able to be with you live today i hope you will have rich and fruitful discussions on how we can jointly ensure an ambitious fair and cost effective fit for 55 packets tomorrow we will have a first formal discussion between ministers on the on the package in the environmental council this will be the start of an intense period of negotiations as we all know the package is very broad and there are many interlinguities between the different files this alone means that the negotiations will be complicated some details might of course change but our main task is to keep the big picture clear the package as whole needs to lead us to the at least 55 emission reductions preferable more and while of course we need to ensure proper time for negotiations we do not have all the time in the world the measures we will agree need to be implemented well before by 2030 the green growth partnership has always offered valuable support in driving ambitious climate policy in the EU we very much need this now too all governments need to hear loud and clear arguments from progressive businesses that green transition is neither such a challenge not not just a necessity but a great possibility it will boost economic activity create new jobs and innovate innovations for runners will be in a peak position to reap the benefits we need you from the business world to stress the importance of a well-functioning strong ETS that ensures cost-efficient emission reductions across Europe and provides price signals to support climate investments we need you to stress that all sectors need to do they share and so examples of how different sectors can do they share while there is now a lot of talk and concern about energy prices in Europe which is understandable I believe one key answer is that we should move faster to ensure so that the renewable energy becomes available and affordable for all I also want to mention the important role of citizens we need their support for the fit 455 packets just and fair transition cannot be just a slogan it has to be something we truly integrate in our climate measures let me also say a word on the international dimension only by acting ourselves we can ask the rest of the world to follow our lead on the path to 1.5 degree conduct conductible climate neutral society I warmly welcome initiatives by European businesses to promote effective carbon pricing globally carbon price when calibrated to Paris agreement objectives would be a powerful cost-effective tool to spar climate finally I just want to wish you once again a good and fruitful discussion at the summit and I hope we can meet in person again at one of the future summits to take stock of how the package is proceeding and on that note I hope everybody will join the join us for I'm sure what will be a date next year but I'm going to move us on to our next speaker I think we've heard those words from the Finnish minister but we're very pleased to be joined by Annika Jacobsen who is the state secretary to Per Bullen from Sweden who is the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Environment and Climate Annika over to you thank you and let me start by thanking you for the invitation and to analyze also how important these kind of events are in bringing together various actions in actors in the climate transition many countries have raised their climate targets ahead of COP26 in Glasgow but the EU can continue to manifest its global leadership by demonstrate how it will actually implement our enhanced ambition with a fit for 55 package we are entering a new decisive phase now it is time to deliver and in doing so we must keep a steady focus on the long-term objective of the EU climate law to reach climate neutrality by 2050 at the latest the latest IPCC report underlines the need for rapid emission reductions in the next decade to keep the 1.5 degree objective within reach achieving the at least 55% by 2030 will indeed require a variety of policy measures a strong carbon price through the UTS is of course key but we do also need measures such as ambitious emission standards for cars improved energy efficiency and a fit for purpose energy taxation framework as such I would say the main challenge of the package is also what will what will determine its success we need a coherent framework where all parts fits together and reinforce each other let me give you an example by improving energy efficiency in our buildings we can reduce emissions while at the same time enhancing the comfort of our homes and reducing our energy bills and also while renovating buildings installing solar panels or energy charging stations for electric cars we will also be able to create new green jobs so rightly intimidated there are multiple wins to gain ambition also spurs innovation a great example is the reindustrialization of northern sweden where we have had the first sample delivery recently of fossil free steel through the hybrid project undoubtedly this breakthrough technology would not have been brought about without incentives such as strong carbon price the EU legislative framework and EUTS must continue to support innovation and create incentives for zero emission techniques this also analyzes the importance of maintaining a steady focus on reducing emissions and in particular the phasing out of fossil fuels uptake of CO2 from the atmosphere of course has a role to play in mitigating climate change but relying on less permanent carbon sinks will not drive innovation in the heavy industry building back better also implies leaving no one behind and precedented levels of finance have therefore been made available through the mff and the next generation EU to kickstart the green economy recovery after the pandemic and transition some point out and and rightly so that the transition will be challenging wait the higher the risk of locking ourselves in a fossil dependent past on top of facing the consequences of climate change so to summarize the time to deliver is now a coherent framework with a mix of policy measures focusing on initial reductions with the key and the green recovery can help us deliver I think I stopped there so thank you and thank you so much Annika and apologies there was a little bit of a delay in the system so thank you very much that was that was very helpful and very clear we're very glad to have you as part of this this conversation and we'll welcome you back for the discussion at the end of these inputs I move on to the to the next input we are very pleased to have another business voice so we have a net student who is the vice-president executive vice-president of sustainability distorted and so another corporate leaders group member and I'm very glad that you could join us and look forward to hearing your thoughts on the bit for 55 package and the Europe's climate transition thanks Elliot and thank you for the opportunity to be here today and to take part of this important discussion in my remarks I will briefly cover firstly our planetary boundaries and the need for businesses to go beyond simply mitigating impacts and instead become regenerative and secondly the fit for 55 package focusing on Lulu CF and the ETS where we see opportunities to make them even stronger so just before I begin a few words about store and so we employ over 18 000 people in the EU we are a renewable materials company offering forest-based products that substitute fossil-based products and these range from packaging textiles a construction paper and pall through to new biomaterials that we constantly innovate to achieve the highest value possible for the fiber one example is lignin which is derived from the side stream of the forest-based industry and what used to be used for bioenergy is now used to replace graphite in batteries and we are one of the largest private forest donors in the world we never harvest more than we grow and we safeguard biodiversity in all our operations around the globe we are fully committed to be a constructive partner for the commissions in the pursuit of the green deals visions but obviously we don't claim to have all the answers today and there's always room to improve I'm happy to say that later this month we will launch a new sustainability strategy and framework for the company and this goes beyond the normal corporate responsibility and will help us operate within the planetary boundaries identified by the Stockholm resilience center which we have used as a guide to set our targets two of these boundaries climate change and biodiversity have a direct relevance for store and so and we believe that regenerative business is key in ensuring that we stay within these boundaries and so for store and so regenerative means circular solutions that contribute to biodiversity and to tackle climate change and and my key message is really that causing less harm it's no longer enough for companies we must seek to become net climate positive and circular and so for this obviously we need the right policy environment and and the fit for 55 packages an important building block to achieve this alongside our mission to become regenerative it will come as no surprise that we fully support the commission's climate ambitions we need to reduce our emissions by at least 55% by 2030 and given this commitment we're keen that we get the climate package right so I want to take up two proposals in particular here the revision of the Lulu CF regulation and the revision of the ETS so regarding Lulu CF it's essential that increased carbon removals in the forest are not used as an excuse for continued high levels of emissions in other sectors European forests should not carry the burden of high emitting sectors and for the EU to reach its climate targets renewable materials will need to face will be needed to face out fossil-based materials which is a major cause of climate change and as such it's essential that the use of the forest is balanced in the EU regulation so that it's not purely seen as a carbon sink which was also mentioned before we are specifically concerned about the proposed integration of emissions from the agriculture sector into the Lulu CF sector CF sector creating a combined agriculture and forest sector from 2030 onwards there's an imminent risk that the increased contribution of the Lulu CF sector to the EU's climate target will be cancelled out by a lack of emissions reduction in the agricultural sector and the ETS has been a success and we hope this will continue we had however hoped for stronger policies promoting carbon capture and storage CCS and biogenic CCS academics academia and scientists agree that CCS and BEX are needed if we are to reach the Paris agreement and simply linking BEX to the ETS price will not be enough to incentivize its technology to become commercialized in a timeframe needed and so store and so is part of a consortium which piloted BEX and we know that this technology is technically feasible we now need to make it to make sure that it becomes financially viable as well and to conclude about ETS the proposal to exclude installations from the scheme where emissions from biomass contribute to more than 95 percent of the emissions it's frankly hard to understand it contradicts the logic of supporting the industrial transition to renewable energy and the leap to reduce the last five percent of fossil emissions is often the most challenging so it does not really make any sense to me and just to conclude finally business need to step up to the challenge of operating within the planetary boundaries the task for us as companies is to use this quest as a lens for product innovation and business model transformation but the task of policy makers is to ensure that the policy environment allow this to happen of course and so the question for this panel was can the fit for 55 package deliver my answer is yes as long as we work together to ensure it delivers concrete measures that are also fit for purpose thank you thank you so much and thanks to the all the panelists there i think there's a great series of contributions and comments there and themes that come through around collaboration innovation reindustrialization inclusion circularity and regeneration and action across the whole economy so so some really big things and of course in name check for one of my favorite policy areas lulu cf um sounds a bit like an american hip hop artist um and actually is land use land use change and forestry um a really key area that we mustn't forget particularly in this context of i hark back to the first round of speakers this convergence of crises that changes that we need to see in response to to restoring nature as well now we have um so we've had our panels we have two respondents this time um both voices from central east in europe which i think is it is really key to bring those voices forward um but very pleased that we'll be able to join by dorie mitrana program director for sustainability embassy in romania sorry was great to hear all these speeches about the level of ambition and the fact that all this uh are soon become a legislation so it's not going to be just a call for a voluntary voluntary action from the from the business community and what i would like to to point out and maybe raise for for discussion would be to um a short introduction in the instruments that will do this transition possible because we talk about how this will be possible and my my concern is related to the way this ambition will be translated into the real life of businesses which in many times show a very basic level of of understanding the practical in terms of practicalities of these topics there are many companies that only now learn about their environmental impact or their social impact and on the other hand they soon will need to to look at their emissions and not just direct emissions scope one scope two emissions but also scope three emissions and for many many companies these are new new aspects they need to implement in their in their in the job uh pascal earlier said that businesses usually is no longer possible and i fully agree but on the same side we should not underestimate the the power of business as usual and the resistance to change and one aspect that makes this resistance drop would be how clear it is for people in the companies to actually take these ambitious goals and translate them into to do actions of day to day one direction one line of action could be provided by the new set of reporting requirements non-financial reporting requirements or disclosure requirements the ones we already have here in europe generated by the directive from back in 2014 did not provide the the expected result but hopefully the package coming up next year will provide this result will provide a tool for managers for people in companies to actually understand their impact and use this as a as a management tool not just reporting reporting tool that they will need to comply and maybe if this package of non-financial reporting will be generally adopted managers and companies in general will be able not just to put themselves on the right path to reach these ambitions of the feed for 55 package but also with the sdgs and their social impact and also find the instruments and tools to not project all the cost of the transition on their consumers on their customers because it was mentioned several times here today the importance of social acceptance of this package and i believe the one way of bringing this social acceptance would be to provide managers with the right tools with the right instruments to keep in touch with the stakeholders measure the real influence and their impact and not just in terms of how this would be or would be not good investments but also how the these measures would would actually give benefits to everyone involved thank you daru i'm going to move us on quickly to our next respondent so we're very pleased to be joined by peter vitek who's chairman of the supervisory board of change for the better in the check republic i think you guessed it the previous green growth bunch offensive peter very happy to have you and um introducing your thoughts on the discussion thank you aliyah and goodl a good afternoon ladies and gentlemen uh i would like to share a couple of notes from the check perspective and the perspective of a part of the private sector that i represent today the check republic is apparently off track to reach the fit for 55 targets and not really ready to transform the economy in time due to several reasons first in striking contrast to countries such as austria or germany checks are deeply politically divided and there is a total lack of an overarching social agreement that net zero is our shared goal of paramount importance and in fact we as a country seem not to really mean the net zero transition or understand fully what really needs to be done second the business case for sustainable transformation of individual private companies is really a weak one many companies especially those that are not that well connected to global global supply chains struggle to factor in the benefits of such a transition when they're creating business cases for investment or decision business decisions and in fact sustainability is still widely perceived here as a cost rather than a benefit in other words most companies still believe in the business as usual scenario as was discussed earlier today and third as already discussed again widening social division on in our country so while we've been slow and reluctant adopters of sustainability measures in check here but we will eventually adopt regulation incentives and initiatives such as the eu taxonomy and in fact more and more businesses actors business actors accept and even welcome that we need to price in the cost of carbon to create real business opportunities for sustainable business practitioners but before new measures of the fit 455 package are imposed we need to get much better at discussing openly with various actors about the fit 455 carbon tax different forms of business self regulation etc and that can't really be done without policymakers listening to progressive businesses so that was my two cents and I'm handing over back to you Elliot thank you Peter and thank you for that excellent contribution so I'd like to invite Annette and Anika back to have a very quick discussion basically I think you both made some really good points maybe Annette if I start with you picking up particularly of the points that Duru was making but also going back to the start of the conversation with Sharon I think one of the themes when we talk about business action is around accountability and transparency and I think that those points are kind of well made you know you represent a company that has set out as you as you set out very clearly good strong ambition on this agenda you want to show leadership what do you see is the how do you see it the importance of being able to be held accountable for that kind of agenda Oh well good and big question and I'll see if I can do it shortly this has been at the heart of of the corporate sustainability movement from the beginning being accountable and and whether you are being held to account by NGOs or by your employees or by your board or by regulators it's all about accountability and different measures to to to have that done I think that's super important in a in a democracy and and that we are having very transparent measures so that we can create trust in what we do and and that we can have the figures the data the information available so that we can all make the right decisions so so different ways of doing it but obviously a key transparency is key to moving the transition in the right direction and I think that remains even where we are today excellent and Annika you talked a lot in your contribution around the the kind of progress and the leadership impact that Sweden is showing in terms of innovating the industrial sectors and we've had some questions around the role of industry in terms of decarbonising but given given there's been quite a lot of focus in this discussion around what does it mean for people the social implications of change how do you know what do you see as the as the opportunities for economic recovery that that industrial change is might create thank you well I do believe that there is an opportunity in creating green new jobs and a solid business case in doing this transition for for the business sector but I think it also requires that we have a close dialogue with the private sector and and a dialogue between the private sector and and policymakers to ensure that this transition is predictable and also in doing that we can ensure that the transition of the work workforce is done in that in a just way and I would like to share an example from Sweden where we have the government have have initiated an initiative in the initiative called fossil and free Sweden which is a platform from which we work very closely with the private sector and civil society to plan for a transition so that the business sectors 13 business sectors in Sweden now have come up with their own road maps on how to become fossil free by 2045 and this helps companies themselves to make long-term plans for transitioning the workforce and it also provides the policymakers with information on where are the barriers where are the obstacles and how can we support this transition in various ways and for example when it comes to the heavy industry we have the government have started a venture industrial leap which is a funding for the heavy industry in doing this transition and doing investments in technology technological steps that are also connected with an economical risk so this is how we can support in while the business is doing their transition but I think this dialogue is really key and also for the business sectors for themselves to make their own plans and for themselves to define what are the barriers and how can how can policymakers help absolutely and I think that's a great note to kind of almost bring this whole round of conversation together this note about business and government collaboration which is at the heart of the green growth partnership so thank you both for your contribution and for taking those questions I want to I wanted to ask Carol to rejoin us as our as a sort of a host and minister essentially obviously you're going into tomorrow you're going into the the Environment Council discussion and so I wondered if I could ask you just to kind of reflect on what you've heard in this discussion today what you think in terms of the future of this conversation whether you have any kind of other completing remarks you'd like to to draw things together with thank you so much and I would like first of all to thank all the panelists because what I hear today is from all side of this panel I'm coming from political actors solution oriented and sustainable solution and really the need to stick not only put to 1.5 but the need to put in place a package that is fit for future and I guess that's what we are all talking about whether if we come from economies from civil society or politics the aim is what we share is to have a society with a just transition and to stay competitive for the challenges of the future so this gives me a lot of hope that the discussion around this fit for 55 package will be yes of course there will be a lot of discussions but on the other hand I really appreciate the engagement I see in this round of discussion in all different sectors be it Lucia where we have to work are all the other sectors of this of this package so thank you so much I would say for everyone sharing this thoughts and for the discussions to comment I think the latest stay in contact and really discuss the details for us as politicians is one of the most valuable things and I think that this is what we do in this group during the last years really a good exchange between all kind of actors thank you thank you Carol that's that's great so with that we're going to bring to an end our conversation on the 555 package which I would almost prefer if it was called the bit for 2030 package because I would find it personally much easier to say we will reconvene in about three minutes so five past four European time or a five minute break to talk about COP26 so with a new set of panelists but I want to thank everyone who's contributed to the conversation so Barry you've been great lots of really fascinating and thank you for your time and energy and do stay in touch just as Carol says let's let's keep this conversation going thank you everyone okay welcome back um hopefully that's been enough time to just catch your breath get a drink of water or whatever else you need to do so I'm very pleased that we're carrying on with the green growth summit 2021 with our second session it's a focus discussion on the road to COP26 and how Europe and the EU can contribute towards a successful outcome at COP26 and again we've got two rounds of great contributors and and should be a really good engaging discussion so let me bring those these people on board and let's start this conversation going so I'm very pleased to welcome our first contributor which is Matt Toones who is the director of partnerships engagement from the UK government's COP26 unit so the COP presidency designate team so Matt if you can put your video on and join us and then it would be great to hear from you in terms of your thoughts on on this imminent event and opportunity to kind of drive forward global ambition or climate change fantastic thank you very much Elliot checking this is all working well yes lovely excellent well it's um it's great to be here and to be here with so many colleagues that we've been working really closely with in the lead-up to COP26 I mean this this is the the critical moment it's less than four weeks to go and there's been a very strong focus over the recent week so last week our Italian partners hosted the pre-cop in Milan and that really got into the negotiated issues that we are going to need to resolve when we when we get to Glasgow at the start of November it showed the things that need resolving but it also showed that there's still a lot of work needed to get to a negotiated agreement and also really powerful last week was the voice of young people at the youth for climate event that was held alongside the pre-cop and that showed the expectations that young people have of world leaders of government cities businesses to deliver at Glasgow and the responsibility that that we all bring. The presidency has for COP26 we've been very focused on delivering firstly on one and a half degrees so keeping one and a half degrees alive and the pathway to one and a half degrees alive we've been focused on finance and adaptation and on a negotiated outcome and to keep one and a half degrees alive I think is as many of you know this this requires action at a number of different levels it requires the commitments that are needed at a country level by 2030 to keep in in reach the halving of global emissions and that's through each country coming forward with updated ambitious nationally determined contributions that's the critical element of the Paris mechanism and ratchet framework that we need to show that this works and Glasgow is the moment for showing that. We need all countries to set mid-century net zero targets but we also really need that progress on sectoral transitions you'll have heard the Prime Minister of the UK talking about cash, cars, coal and trees and this is a real focus for us as presidency so phasing out coal by 2030 and develop countries 2040 and developing countries tackling deforestation and accelerating the transition to sustainable agriculture and moving to 100% zero emission vehicles and as presidency we have also been very focused on finance and delivering the 100 billion goal promised to developing countries and showing the support for adaptation around loss and damage access to finance and other related questions so we have seen progress over the recent over recent months we've seen the G7 making progress against the one and a half degree targets commitment by each G7 country towards emission reduction targets in line with one and a half degrees and more recently at Unger the progress on the 100 billion with the US committing to double their climate finance and President G committing not to build a new coal fired power project but I think as we all know there is still a very long way to go and the NDC synthesis report from the UNFCCC showed that and so the EU I know you've had a long discussion on the fit for 55 package you use a really close partner to the UK on COP26 and our wider climate finance climate priorities and fit for 55 is a really powerful package showing that and the finance that several member states have brought forward have also strongly supported the work towards COP and we really need the EU's continuing support in working with those G20 countries where we still need to see more and enhance NDCs stronger net zero long-term strategies and then crucially the commitments on coal on deforestation on transport and the critical sectoral transitions that we need but also business is really essential and it's fantastic to have other business colleagues here on this on this panel and we need business colleagues as well and we really need the the energy of the private sector on our side to show that the commitments made in Paris are deliverable and Glasgow we can show the pathways needed to keep one and a half degrees alive and we're asking all businesses to take immediate action to join the race to zero if they haven't already and the race to resilience and we're asking business to collaborate across their sectors with their peers to accelerate the transition and critically to work with governments so many businesses have connections and work closely with governments across the world and to encourage those governments to make bold commitments and to commit to ambitious paths and fantastically more than 500 businesses have made this call to the G20 in a recent open letter by the we mean business coalition which we very very strongly support please do sign up to this so we're in the final four weeks my my call kind of working from the presidency team would be please could you all look at what extra commitments your organization or your countries can make and then how you can continue to work with other major emitters and wider sectors that you're involved in to lock in the overall level of ambition we need to keep one and a half degrees alive as we follow on these final few weeks running through to Glasgow thank you Elliot I'll pass back to you thank you so much Matt and staring final message there you know the clock is very much ticking to get those new commitments in that step up in terms of ambition so do stay with us but I mean if you'll if you want to turn your video off and we'll invite our next speaker our next contributor into this this conversation so Matt talked about the interrelationship in fact with our previous conversation around the 55 package and this so it's great to have a contributor to talk about european ambition european contribution to this conversation so Demetrius of Colis um deputy head of the unit for international and mainstreaming and policy coordination at the european commission Demetrius over to you hello to all thank you for having me here indeed I would like to share with you some of our priorities regarding the COP26 I think I'm going to sound a bit redundant because already what we hear from Matt is really a representation of the things of the key messages that I would like to pass in this panel so from from our side from the EU side indeed the COP26 will we need to have an outcome that will address the following three subjects so number one is that we need to maintain the 1.5 degrees within reach in this decade so we need an outcome that will present how we're going to do that secondly we need to have an outcome that will show that we are ready to strengthen our action to adapt to climate change and we already heard from Matt and other speakers about about this topic and I would say a few words about this and third we need to demonstrate our solidarity to the developing countries that are the most affected by climate change and build momentum for unlining financial flows with the parish schools so regarding the first subject how we how we can use the COP in order to maintain the 1.5 degree target within reach first we need to highlight that the science tells us that we are already there the 1.5 actually is going to be reached pretty soon and the question is how we can avoid a to a permanent situation something that will go beyond 1.5 so we need to to the state of the climate system also we need to the parties to show through the COP26 outcome that they commit to the significant enhancement of their efforts within this decade which means that they have to present their long-term strategies and they have to present their national and deterrent contributions their has national and deterrent contributions as used as soon as possible so we need to remain focused with through the COP26 outcome to reduce emissions in this decade now we also need to recognize the different sectors so we heard from from Matt about the sectoral initiatives and it did the policy campaigns by the UK COP26 presidency but also through the G7 chairmanship we saw that there have been quite instrumental in showing that we can we can reduce emissions in the different sectors so we need the COP26 to give visibility to all these initiatives and to the specific commitments that can keep 1.5 degrees within reach and finally we should not forget that we need also a rule book that will show that we can we can get this ambition so we need an ambitious framework of rules including on transparency including on article 6 that that show that the effective implementation of the Paris Agreement by all parties is is possible in the next decade now let me address the second part when it comes to adaptation so when it comes to adaptation we need an outcome that will communicate that will present a call for all the parties to communicate how they are stepping up their respective adaptation actions as part of a wider call to all parties for higher ambition we know that our developing country partners are asking for for a sense of balance in the treatment of mitigation adaptation and indeed we understand this key concern and we agree that we need to provide greater priority to supporting climate action adaptation action and to address loss and damage as well so support should respond to developing country priorities tailored to their needs that continue to evolve and especially towards those that are the most vulnerable the poorest countries now I can say what the you have done for that of course we have developed an adaptation strategy and we are ready to communicate our adaptation action through the adaptation communication that we will submit to the UNFCC in the next days it's it's going to be one of the subjects of the Environment Council tomorrow so we're already doing a lot in in this field and I don't need to repeat what we're doing on the 1.5 you already mentioned the fit for 55 packets and the climate law so we're committed to to do all this and we're committed to provide more sustained and increased investment in enhanced resilience adaptation in the most disaster prone countries and those regions in order to encourage the build back better strategies for recovery after the disasters now finally on on climate finance we all know about the report from the OECD that shows that there was a shortfall in 2019 and because of the covid the the covid crisis we can expect that there might be some shortfall in 2020 as well now what would the the donor countries need to do is to recognize this shortfall and I think that in the pre-cog from what we heard last week we heard all the donor countries really recognizing this shortfall in the delivery of the $100 billion dollar code so a delivery plan is under preparation and will be presented in the coming days so we expect that the COP26 will demonstrate this strong commitment by the developed countries to address this shortfall from our side already the Commission and some member states have presented enhanced public finance commitments for the coming years and we expect that these commitments combined with policies that help to align financial flows with the barry's goals will help to address the shortfall moreover we need to see how the subject of aligning financial flows globally will be covered by the COP outcome so the ministerial discussions that will happen on finance that will happen during the COP as well as the initiation of the deliberations regarding the post 2025 call are very important opportunities to demonstrate the ambition that ambition will come with broader mobilization of private finance as well as with conducive policies and actions by all not only by the developed countries but also from the developing countries that are the recipients of climate finance so this is a small overview of our approach towards this COP I think that you will get let's say a full-fledged approach of the EU position in the council conclusions that will be adopted tomorrow and I should remind that today the ECOFIN Council has adopted the council conclusions on climate finance so there you can see a full-fledged delivery of our positions. Bacutu, thank you Demetrius, thank you that very full and illuminating overview of the European positions and highlighting the kind of key role of the upcoming European council discussions so next up we have Matthias Fischer who is State Secretary for the Ministry of Environment and Climate in Norway. Matthias over to you. Thank you Elliot and thank you all for interesting discussions for the last couple of hours. I'll start by echoing the two previous speakers I think that a successful COP in Glasgow is a COP that keeps 1.5 alive it's clear the science is clear now that 1.5 cannot be a hope some broader ambition it has it is now a necessity and the policy needs to follow that science I think it will be interesting to look back now to the Paris Agreement and see because Paris gave people hope Paris made the world think that now we can combat climate change and in a way that hope was not completely deserved we should be honest because at that time in 2015 the sum of the national ambitions in the national targets was far from enough to achieve neither 1.5 degrees or 2.2 degrees but what generated hope in Paris was that we admitted as countries and parties to the agreement that we knew that this was not enough and we will update our indices or in AA terms we admitted we had a problem which would always be step one and we said that we were going to fix it by enhancing our indices and six years later the indices are still not enough so now we the parties to this agreement risked being the drunk driver who got arrested twice and then at that time it is harder to build trust and be forgiven from your family and that makes it harder for these countries for all of us now to generate hope after Glasgow but I think it is possible uh first of all you need to be clear that we are going to change we need to enhance our indices many countries still haven't done so and the indices has to be more ambitious than they are today we need to be clear on how we are going to change that means clear climate action plans from all countries and we need to submit a system which which means finalizing the rulebook from the Paris agreement but most of all we really need to show the world that we are willing to do what it takes to get to the to achieve the goal of 1.5 I believe that this is possible because we cannot leave Glasgow in a way that leaves the world believing that this is but where we are today is the most ambitious uh we can be that this is the most the countries of the world is willing to do so how do we do that I think that Europeans European countries in the EU is leading by example and the hit for 55 is an inspiration for a lot of people a lot of governance and a lot of businesses to see that it is possible to achieve ambitious goals on climate and I think the key is that the european and the EU's climate and fit for 55 combines the ambitious goal it concretes it with a concrete plan it has the clear social element and especially in this form I would underline it is policies for growth that makes European businesses part of the solution and not a problem so Norway as part of the EA agreement with the EU welcomes the fit for 55 and the european green deal and I think that EU now shows that its NDC is more than just a number it is a vision for european future for the coming 10 years and last week I was in Milan for the pre cup I think it's clear that there is a lot of work to do and a lot of discussions yet to be held and we will continue to push for continuing enhanced NDCs and we have enhanced financial commitments from the parties and we need to push for NDCs that are in line with 1.5 but we need to show that combating climate change is not merely a burden it is also an opportunity and we need to show that to the world that it is now a race for businesses and on completing for being the first on new technology being that that business race is a part of the climate policies that we are running and that's where I think the EU european union can truly make a difference in showing that this is full of opportunities for the years to come so we live by example and inspire both businesses and other countries that should be an important part of that work thank you very much thank you so much Matthias and you know great great themes there I think there's a really strong message about moving from from the first step to the next step moving from ambition to action and leading by example that is is really valuable I'm going to move us on to our next speaker so Hitte Gütterland from the European Parliament we've had a had a national voice we've had a European Commission voice it's great to have a parliamentary voice Hitte I wonder if you can turn your screen on and join us thank you Elliot thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to to participate at this important webinar and I would like to start by saying that I think it's extremely timely and very valuable to be able to access the and address the Green Growth Summit and I want to start by expressing expressing how welcome it is to that the progressives around the public and private sector are joining forces as in the green growth partnership policymakers need to send the clear signals and provide the markets conditions for action but also collaborate closely with business in ensuring that action is taken and I mean it is taken project like hybrid north waltz in the northern sweden I'm coming from sweden so I know about it they are now producing fossil free steel and in the last legislature in the european parliament that would have been like rock science to to talk about projects like that almost impossible but we also have north waltz who is producing carbon neutral iron and batteries and all this would not have happened a couple of years back as I mentioned and it would not have happened by themselves it was important to have collaboration between actors to make it happen it was also interesting to hear the previous speakers on the 27th gave at least some hope for me ahead of the conference the timing on COP 20 could not have been better with the EU having adopted the european climate law sharply increasing the ambitions but also now started with the climate package turning this into action via the sectorialisation and also with President Biden back in the White House showing leadership that we would not even dream to see in the last legislature and together with the european union the united states are now willing to really be one of the big actors at COP26 and also with China now taking steps toward carbon neutrality at least by 2060 is also important in front of this COP26 yet we are already seeing how emissions start to rise again after the Covid crisis and that world has to reconsider the direction future despite increased ambition in the pledge that still only add up to 3.2 degrees of global heating and it's far from enough if this is the action that we already taken it's far from enough with pledges it is of course the centre of the discussion in the Glasgow but we also need to turn the discussion from pledges to action we need to discuss more closely and concretely what action the parties needs to take to turn this around the message from the european parliament is very clear we live in the climate crisis and we need to treat this as an emergency we are about to take our mandate ahead of the COP26 and i will be a delegate also to Glasgow and i will pass the message of increased ambition forward i know that we are discussing now the resolution that we are voting on the now in october in front of Glasgow there are many things to be discussed in Glasgow issues like climate finance and on what the next target will be ahead and hopefully we will have enough pressure to ensure the existing target on 100 billion US dollar that that is achieved the paris agreement rule book rule book needs to be completed where COP25 failed to deliver and this includes carbon dioxide credits financing for loss and damage and the role of nature-based solutions we need to stop all double counting and make sure that maritime and aviation emissions don't fall through the cracks and of course every country must update and raise the ambitions on their indices in line with the paris agreement countries like brazil australia russia for example but achieving progress on all these issues will not be enough for me to be convinced that we will actually achieve our own targets what i really want to see in Glasgow is detailed and concrete proposals on how parties are planning to get there to reach their indices which countries are willing to stop subsidies fuels and fossil fuels which countries are willing to put halt on construction on new fossil fuel infrastructure such as coal plants which countries are willing to commit to leaving their reserves of coal oil and natural gas in the grounds and which countries outside the european union are ready to implement their own emission trading schemes a couple of important questions that should be raised to all the actors going to COP26 if not the conference itself i hope world leaders will go home afterwards and start the work on brave and ambitious reforms that will actually make a difference when leaders start walking in a direction start showing their commitments above what is already popular you start to see movements everywhere in the society the business community hates uncertainty we need leaders that send clear signals where we are heading that create new momentum in this green transition thank you thank you here here um there's some great points made there and a very clear call to action um without too much other ado i want to move us on to uh the next contribution here is uh we've got a business speaker member of uh clg europe and clg uk so keith anderson the chief executive officer of scottish power which is part of the the dorota group um keith if you can join us and share your thoughts and also ask about squatch power as a one of the sponsors of um COP26 so kind of key key link there keith and great have your thoughts on this moment this opportunity that the lies ahead of us good thanks ellie i hope you can you can hear me fine good so thank you for the for the opportunity to speak to you and it's been really interesting listening to the the previous speakers and i'll pick up maybe on one or two of the themes that matt in particular talked about which was the sort of important interaction between uh business and the policy makers and and governments in terms of trying to achieve and make a successful cop as an organization we've been i suppose on a sort of 20 25 year strategy of turning ourselves green uh at scottish power and you know during that process we've shut down all of our coal plant we've sold off all of our gas plant and we are now a 100 renewable energy generating company from onshore wind offshore wind and solar power as well and we kind of like to talk about that and use it as an example to show that it can be done in doing that and we didn't just shut down our coal plant we actually shut down all of the coal plant in scotland as a country and so we made a massive contribution to shifting the whole country further towards its net zero ambition as well and i think just now as an organization we're so focused on net zero and so focused on the commercial opportunity the business opportunity as well as the environmental opportunity that actually everything we do is an organization we now do through the prism of net zero and all the strategic decisions we're making are through the prism of net zero when getting to net zero and the green you know people talk about a green recovery and an economic recovery and i think this is you know it's one of the most important things in terms of using that as a powerful message to get other countries and other businesses bought into to the future of tackling climate change and bought into getting the right targets and the right outcome from COP26 we you can clearly track the success of our company the valuation of our company the performance of our company alongside that journey of getting to getting to net zero and going to 100 green and there's a very clear correlation for us and we now look at the opportunity ahead of us particularly in the UK but you're for the whole group worldwide at being part of a huge economic recovery in terms of investment in critical infrastructure investment directly in renewables projects and grid and the distribution system investment now into the transport network into the heat network into the creation of a hydrogen network and on the back of that because of the size and scale of the infrastructure we will deliver benefit right across of the community in the country we'll deliver benefit in terms of skills jobs training opportunities supply chain opportunities manufacturing opportunities and that shows you the strength that actually an infrastructure led green recovery can bring to any economy in any country and if you do this and structure it properly if you have the correct mechanisms in place as a country if you do the correct incentive mechanisms as well you will get the investment flowing in and you'll get the economic benefit and the economic growth on the back of tackling climate change as well you know and I think today now the sort of economic case and the environmental case are truly absolutely 100% aligned and I think that's a really powerful place for us to be and it's a really powerful thing for business to take a lead on showing that and demonstrating that and driving that forward it's also about you and Matt touched on this about you who you work with across your own sector but also into other sectors and that's something we've been trying to push very very hard so we're now working with Shell a big oil and gas company obviously but we're going to work with them on the future and bidding for the future of of offshore wind in the UK and again we think that's a really important thing to do and this isn't about lambasting other sectors or criticising other sectors it's about working with them getting them involved and actually helping them map out and their transition and their strategy for also getting to net zero and for decarbonisation we're doing the same with other industrial users of power through the work we're trying to do with the creation of a green hydrogen economy and looking at you're working with distilleries other heavy industry users and how we can help them decarbonise and show a pathway to net zero as well as I look at the future and we look at innovation again and link that to our recovery and link it to getting to net zero you'll have our whole agenda our whole business environment just says innovation innovation innovation and again that creates a lot of opportunity for the future whether that's innovation in hydrogen whether it's in transport whether it's in heat whether it's in battery technology whether it's in storage whether it's the smart grids it's just more and more innovation and again where you see the opportunity for all of that innovation it creates a big business opportunity and a big commercial opportunity and I think again that's a really important message it's a message not only do we want to deliver to other companies but a message that we deliver to governments to politicians to regulators around the world which is don't look at this you know as some kind of burden and just some kind of challenge but also look at it as an opportunity and look at the benefit you can bring economically to the whole of your country yeah into the future of your market so for us COP26 we're a principal partner a big sponsor why we wanted to get involved because we want to use COP26 as a way of demonstrating from a business perspective here's how you can help drive forward the agenda here's how you can set your own agenda here's how you can use innovation here's how you can get economic benefit here's how you can deliver a better future quicker for your company for the citizens of the country for the environment for everyone and I think the COP coming to Glasgow which is our hometown in Scotland in the United Kingdom again the benefits that that can bring in terms of showing what we've done how we can do it the innovation we've got going in the country the economic development of the country the skill sets that we have to offer as a country and look at how you can start to export that around the world as well I think makes COP26 an incredibly powerful platform for the future of tackling climate change for the future of getting to net zero and for business to really show that it can take a lead and it can show the way for for countries right around the world so that's me Elliot thanks thank you so much Keith wise words and also I'm just to kind of give you kudos for I realize you must have an excellent collection of green ties as both on the slide and in real life you've got a fine specimen to display so there's definitely a lesson I can learn there I think I don't know if you can stay with sir I think you might have to leave but we're going to move on to one or two quick questions to the panel so if you do have to leave feel free to but if you can stick around I can stay for two or three more minutes okay just for questions so I invite any of the speakers who have who have already contributed in this discussion on COP26 to rejoin us for this this panel and I guess the first question which I want to sort of maybe aim at Matt and Keith so maybe Matt first and then Keith is a question that came from from a business in the audience but so it's about the the COP itself and it's about the opportunities for business to take part in the dialogue in the conversation particularly businesses who are part of the race to zero have have SPTI targets so they've done their homework they've got a good story to tell how can they be how can they support the event how can they be part of the dialogue Matt first of it Keith I know you're you're based out of Glasgow so you may well have have some thoughts about the events and activities happening there brilliant thanks Elliot and so I mean it's start by start by saying that fantastic for those businesses who have committed to race to zero so you know the first thing is to make those commitments and then follow through with the with the action that's needed within the blue zone and the green zone there will be a number of opportunities for businesses to showcase be part of conversations discussions that will be taking place through COP there are kind of different zones in the blue zone there's part of the blue zone will be managed by the high level action champions so Nigel Topping Gonzano Munoz there'll be a space called the action zone which a number of businesses will participate in there are a number of pavilions within the blue zone that are managed by different businesses and business organizations and there will be a number of number of presidency events where we are including some leading climate businesses to contribute to discussions so I think you know the first thing is that it is really important business has a voice within this but particularly those leading businesses as Keith said you know with with Scottish power those who've had you know experienced the track record and who are showing the you know future future plans that you know that can help kind of drive that message with the opportunity and the economic possibility that climate transitions brings I think just to add on to that Elliot just to pick up on what Matt said look there's a whole load of official stuff going on at the COP at the COP center and whether it's in the blue zone in the green zone and you know there's them I think there are websites and portals where you can go and find out what what exactly is going on and what days and when and what you can get access to but there's a massive amount of other activity are planned around the city from companies like us so look feel free to get in touch with me directly if you want to find out what we're doing we're running a whole series of events our head office and our auditorium is literally a stone's throw away from the COP center we're working with organizations like WWF with some of the universities with CBI Scotland that we're putting on events we're putting on joint events contact me contact the CBI the CBI have got an access to a whole load of events that they're putting on but also the CBI have also got a website and a portal about how business can get involved and what business can do to contribute so there's loads and loads of information out there Glasgow City Council putting stuff on staff like junior putting stuff on Glasgow junior putting stuff on just yeah tons of opportunity to get involved but please shout shout ping me an email and then I'll put you in touch with people you may regret that but um and I would say you know so CISL the corporate leaders group will have things on our website shortly um which will outline many of the events that we're organizing I know women business will also act as a bit of a conduit and we'll hear from Sophie later so I think the message the overall message is is there's going to be a lot of stuff happening which is which is good particularly in the in the current context and and I predict lots of useful dialogues very much like this one so hopefully we can we can build on this example so I'm going to give one last question which I will take sort of one or two reasons a very open general question I feel like one of the themes I've heard um particularly in the round of contributions is the value of examples you know Europe the UK setting example in terms of what it can do business setting an example in terms of what it can do to inspire further action I don't know if any of the any of you have any thoughts in terms of what you see as sort of some of the critical or most important stories or examples that could there need to be set in this moment and maybe if you just want to either catch my eye or raise a hand if you feel like you've got something to contribute on that one Matt Matthias yeah thank you I think in this moment I think it's good to see look at the business the businesses itself you have countries that do a lot of good on climate and serve as example and inspiration for others but I think when you see companies taking action to cut their own emissions or or lead by developing new technology and when you see more and more people assuming in finance and in business that we are going to achieve our climate goals when more people are talking like that is where this world is headed that's when you really inspire because people will think we're missing out on something so the more businesses that take this seriously believe in net zero more other people who might not care that much about climate change they will see that some smart people are doing something on climate that I'm not doing and why are they doing that and we'll follow suit so everybody can lead by example both politicians and businesses alike thank you thank you so I have some more speakers to to bring into this this topic of conflict six so thank you all for your contributions I'm gonna I'm gonna close the discussion there thank you thank you for joining me and move us on to to hear from our our next input so I'm pleased to be joined by Kaya Tyall who is the ambassador for climate and energy policy at large from Estonia Kaya thank you so much I was very happy to listen to the previous panel and especially our Norwegian colleague who actually confirmed that the European Union has been leading by example by fit for 55 and we're rightly proud of it which means that we don't only talk but we also walk the walk and this walk takes place mainly in between COP meetings so slightly differently from the others I will actually focus more on what we do in between my first point is that among other things largely since the previous COP meeting the European Union has sort of reinvented climate diplomacy our national governments represented by various ministers be them environment or trade or development or energy of course have been making the point for a long time but as we see the global goals have stayed out of reach so since Ursula von der Leyen's commission we have pulled our strengths and capacities both in the institutions and also in the member states also in climate diplomacy do we have results COP26 will tell but at least the European Union has been more visible in a selected batch of countries all over the world so we have talked the talk with Green Dimashis but we have also provided some concrete advice with with workshops and seminars some alliances and coalitions have been launched like powering past coal alliance others are in the making like global methane initiative or beyond oil and gas alliance and there is an informal climate ambassadors network to support all this this is a small thing but certainly has improved the corporation my second point is that even a small country like Estonia can find its place in this global corporation our flagship project in the UN framework comes from UNAP the United Nations Environmental Programme Corporation and is called DEAL it will support UNAP in its efforts to develop global environmental data strategy by 2025 so what's it about we all know that to adapt efficiently and to mitigate the climate change effects you need to base your efforts on sufficient and reliable data and it is no secret that today data globally is neither always available reliable or comparable not to speak about digital solutions or the know how how to use data so DEAL will be a coalition of state and non-state actors to improve national data management capacities across the globe and we have actually already started with this and at COP26 talking about examples Estonia wants to wants to show that even with a very difficult starting position like us where we were too totally reliant on fossil fuels in 1990 transition to green options is doable our greenhouse gas emissions reduction goal for 2030 is 70% so not 55 like the European Union and we have already achieved 72% by 2020 and yes digital solutions do play a role although we don't turn a blind eye towards increasing energy needs and thus partly growing share of greenhouse gas emissions in the IT sector but this sector is also a major source of solutions so our strength lies in combining digital services with green targets and solutions for example smart cities or transportation or the digital methods in biodiversity conservation so we want to share those experiences which we have with our startup companies which focus on on solar energy or electric vehicles or sustainable consumption practices we want to show how by digitalizing for example the energy sector new climate neutral solutions can be easily taken up by consumers and producers alike and and they will contribute to storage demand response etc so lots to talk about let's hope for a lively discussion at COP26 thank you thank you Cara and a really key point about how the green transition and the digital transition absolutely must must come together and they must be put in absolute synergy so our next speaker I'm going to invite to join us is Thomas Lingard he is the Global Climate and Environment Director for Unilever and an active support member of the corporate leaders group as well Thomas over to you thank you so much Elia and Cambridge since you've seen this leadership for inviting us here today it's a real pleasure it's always hard when you come towards the end of such a great session to say something new and interesting it's also hard doing this virtually that you can't read the energy level in the room but I just wanted to make a couple of really quick points and let me just introduce Unilever you may know us we're a large global consumer goods company working across soaps hygiene products home care and food and refreshment with a very strong EU footprint big businesses right across Europe and we do try and do our best to show some leadership on climate change with science-based targets aligned to 1.5 degrees and and and delivering that through our operations we're proud to achieve a global target of 100% renewable grid electricity in 2020 we've got a target to be zero emission operations by 2030 we have a net zero target for our value chain by 2039 and and I would humbly say you know within those targets there are things that we know how to do and we're getting on and doing them there are things we want to do but we need a little bit of help from the policy makers to make them economic and there are still some things we don't know how to do and we're working right through the value chain with partners to try and figure out the tricky stuff but we do think it's super important that everyone is working together on this the companies the policy makers the investors and we were surprised I think that's the one way word to say but we took our climate transition action plan actually to our AGN this year to to share what we're intending to do with our investors and put it up for a non-binding advisory vote it passed with 99.59% of the votes cast an astonishing result really we expected it to pass but not not so unanimously and I think it just shows the strength of feeling in the market in the private sector about how necessary this transition is and how up for doing it the whole private sector community is at this point so you know we've been really clear as I said that the the stuff we're trying to get done can't be delivered without big shifts in the world the three shifts I think we're talking about are a policy shift not so much little incremental shifts in ambition and targets but really dramatic shifts in how we think about the role of policy in engineering you know a once in a century transition in the economy we're thinking about an investment shift of how the money can can flow that links to the policy shift its policy is there creating certainty for businesses then the money will flow there's no shortage of capital in the world it's just not deployed right now in the right ways and underpinning all of that we think there's a mindset shift and again it's this moving out of incrementalism that you know has been the way of doing policy for the last well forever really and and into a much more transformational mindset which requires everybody to think more holistically outside of silos integrating the social the economic and the environmental together and I think we find that the you know the just transition elements in a lot of the conversations around the climate transition the net zero transition is still not always strong enough EU is I think pretty good at this but there's always more work to do in terms of thinking through as we move from targets to implementation how do we put the people and communities that we all serve whether as business or as political leaders at the heart of what we're thinking about trying to do so look it will come as no surprise that Unilever is super supportive of everything the EU's done to get this 55 percent emissions reduction target and you know we should extend our thanks to those in the room today who've worked really hard to get that through that's been a you know big effort by the community to make that happen but we've got to now see that translated into hard policy measures it's the easy bit really is having the is having the target and the hard bit is when the rubber hits the road on things like carbon pricing on where you set the renewable energy targets just transition measures to see coal phased out in the remaining places that we still have that and even repurposing agricultural subsidies so they really work to deliver the Paris agreement and not against it so so you know we love the target it's a brilliant step in the right direction I think if you run the numbers Europe will need something more like a 58 to 70 percent reduction if it was to truly be in line with the Paris agreement so there's you know I think it's important that we hold on to that target and see it as a floor not a ceiling of ambition whilst also grappling with the really you know tricky policy measures that will need to implement it so just a polite reminder there that you know there's always more to do on this on this subject and but that's all I wanted to say by way of a few quick remarks thank you thank you Thomas excellent and a really important reminder about the the fact that we should always look to go further this is not an agenda that we should be under delivering on okay so next up I have Safi Punt who is managing director of policy for women business coalition the coalition that sealed Europe is a proud and active founding partner of Safi over to you well thanks very much for Elliot for inviting me and for the green growth group of ministers for inviting me to this important event building on on what Thomas just said you can translate those shifts for the EU to intervene at three levels before the COP during the COP and after the COP and I'd like to give some suggestions from a business perspective to that the first one is about before the COP the G summit is right before it on the 30th and 31st of October and it's really important because G20 are representing the biggest economies in the world and together represent 80 percent of greenhouse gas emissions so whatever is achieved there can set the ground for COP and beyond and what we have done as a women business coalition we coordinated an open letter that was signed by hundreds of companies that were looking for G20 leaders to go all in for 1.5 and to looking if you're looking at the fundamentals of what's really at play there are three things that we highlighted in the letter the first one is that the strengthening of the NDC so now the Paris agreements have been said we really need to get down to national plans and policies and making sure that those NDCs and their supporting policies and plans stay within within the 1.5 scenarios we need to keep that within reach and then we added two core systems that need most fundamentally changed and the first one is energy and what we've done is companies are asking for G20 leaders to commit to phasing out coal-fired power generation by 2030 for the advanced economies that's pretty much the entire EU and 2040 for others so that means that other countries should quicker move away from coal that they might have otherwise planned and second is then to end new coal power development and coal financing immediately and what we're seeing now for example with China having said we're no longer going to invest in new coal-fired power abroad that sets the way it's a matter of when the shift is happening the G20 leaders can together accelerate that and then the other part is finance and finance is about removing fossil fuel subsidies by 2025 delivering on the 100 billion finance commitments to developing countries making sure that climate-related financial disclosures for cooperation has become mandatory and finally to put a meaningful price on carbon combined with other policies to make sure that the full cost of climate change is reflected if we're able to do these three things strengthen NDCs and the energy system and the finance system that supports all the other systems that need changing industry transport built environments and even nature because of course finance we need to not just protect nature but also invest in it now this letter was signed by more than 600 companies covering all having operation all G20 countries of which more than 250 have operations in the EU and 150 of those companies have headquarters in the EU so the EU is really well represented there 2.15 trillion euros in revenue and employing more than 8.5 million people worldwide so the EU has an opportunity to leverage the voice of these businesses have signed this letter and use that as encouragement to set a stronger ambition for the EU both at the G20 as well as leading into the COP now at COP it will be key for the EU to protect the integrity of the Paris Agreement and that's again three things keeping the 1.5 goal within reach as I mentioned and with the EU has with its green deal ambition and plans the credibility and the legitimacy to take that leadership role and protect that 1.5 goal it's also important for them to align climate finance with 1.5 and making sure that adaptation and developing countries are included this in earnest so it's not just about financing the wealthy countries it's also about bringing the rest on board and it's not only anymore about mitigation but about adaptation and then there's a third area to make sure that the article 6 which several of the previous people have mentioned um retains its environmental integrity so we don't get any leakage or double counting um and again emphasizes the role of carbon pricing and that article 6 is actually possibly the most critical piece on the table at the COP negotiations simply because if the financing is organized well and the clear rules then that allows um the private financing to be unleashed and everybody understands public and financing is important also send a signal but without private finance we won't get there and with that it's also then important to make sure that the businesses are considered in the global stock take because it's a collective process and uh business make a contribution to that and then finally post COP so um people are looking at COP I think everybody will have a week's sleep after that but where we're looking already be ahead of that G7 is going to be hosted by Germany so again the EU will have a pretty important role to play in in the next year too now within with the fit for 55 package the EU is the first major economy with detailed plans on how to implement this NDC and recognizing what's good for the climate is good for the environment and the economy and if successfully delivered it will do will bring those economic opportunities as we also heard Franz Timmermans say in renewable energy energy efficiency rollout electric vehicles net zero technologies so a success story in the EU will encourage other countries including those developing countries to take a similar transport transformation and many companies in the EU including those that have signed that G20 letter have various operations not only in the EU but also in those other countries that the EU could influence so I encourage the EU to make use of those businesses and with their support try and and leverage or encourage other countries to follow suits and by doing so they cannot just encourage other countries but they can also work together policymakers and business to create harmonized policies and business environment to decarbonize the value change increase the investments in the green economy and decent jobs so the EU has ample opportunities before the COP through the G20 summit during the COP and particularly protecting the integrity of the Paris Agreement and after the COP by continuing with his leadership role and working with business for ambition and action elsewhere in the world and making sure that whatever is introduced is standardized and harmonized and that will benefit global business thank you for the opportunity to speak today thank you so much Saifi a really important contribution and now we've heard lots of European voices and we've had lots of commentary on the role of Europe in this international space but I'm very pleased to bring in a perspective from outside Europe so we have Joanne Jawicz for the CEO of the National Business Initiative of South Africa Joanne we'd love to hear from you and hear your thoughts about COP 36 and the opportunity of advice okay thank you thank you very much Elliot and it's a great great pleasure to be speaking at this event I've been listening in and have learned a lot today about the the detail and the approach and where the EU is at and I thought I would do two things I think the first thing is to really talk about where South Africa is at in relation to our preparation as a country for COP 26 and specifically to talk a little bit about what business is doing and then secondly to talk about how I would see the relationship between the EU and the developing world moving forward in relation to both sustaining keeping as as people in this conversation have spoken of keeping 1.5 degrees alive as well as net zero 2050 set of targets okay so so I think that South Africa as you all know is a energy intensive and high emitting country over the last few years there has been a huge amount of work done in order to try and build national consensus around the need for a fairly radical decarbonization pathways to be put in place in South Africa and really the issue of climate like for the rest of the developing world is is critical in our context because of the impacts of of climate change as well as all of the issues around climate risk and trade risk if we if we keep on the kind of current development path that we are on what that has resulted in is firstly in an NDC that has been put forward by the South African government that is 1.5 degree aligned and that in putting that forward that has had intensive public engagement and has had business pushing government at some points and supporting walking alongside government at others in order to be able to put this ambitious NDC on the table so I think that that has been a really really important thing the conversation around an ambitious NDC has resulted in major movement I would argue in the kind of development path that the country sees for itself secondly there has been significant work done within the business community in South Africa over the last year headed by both my organization as well as by Business Unity South Africa which is our apex business organization and what we've done is to put together a set of 2050 transition pathways for different sectors of the economy for the power sector for petrochemicals for the folio sector for transport for mining for for gas and for green hydrogen that sets out for business how these different sectors could start moving towards the net zero 2050 and that work has been led by a grouping of around 30 CEOs from the country's largest companies and from the country's largest emitting companies and what that has brought us to is a situation where we can go into the cop as business aligned with government on the need for a net zero 2050 and where we believe that we in our inner situation as a developing country to really demonstrate in a very fundamental way our commitment to be able to stand alongside the rest of the globe in terms of addressing climate change and reaching reaching our goals and in relation to the kind of partnerships and issues that we then go into the cop with in relation to the developed world I think it's been said a number of times in this conversation that clearly this is being seen as a finance cop I think the time has come after years and years of negotiation post Copenhagen initially and then post Paris to be able to say that the money is on the table and there is a very serious commitment to support the developing world both in relation to accelerated decarbonisation as well as in relation to being able to put serious money into addressing the impacts of climate change and the issues of adaptation and resilience I think secondly if you look at a country like South Africa we are going to the cop with a decarbonisation plan for our power sector with a plan that we have we believe that we are very well positioned to start working on the establishment of green hydrogen industry in South Africa and so what we would see ourselves wanting to engage with the EU on are the establishment of a set of partnerships and not a not a kind of donor recipient set of partnerships but a set of mutual investments around issues of trade of technology of R&D and of the need for us to be able to start working together in a much more fundamental partnership where we recognise our strengths and our capacities to support each other in what is going to be a very very difficult road that we all have to walk I don't think that we can pretend that this is an easy road certainly in our country it not only demands huge levels of leadership and political will but it demands enormous levels of mobilisation and building of social consensus including being able to address the issues of a just transition in order to be able to ensure that once we get on this path that we don't get offered and so I think the COP26 is a critically important moment I think that my sense is that a lot of African countries and many developing countries are going to be coming to the COP with commitments and intentions to act that go far beyond what has been on the table before and I think it would be really important that in the relationship between the EU and the developing world that we use the opportunity of the COP to bid those down. Thanks. Thank you Joanne, some immensely useful comments there and I think you know really helpful to open up that dialogue in terms of the any EU South Africa conversation and I couldn't have picked a better theme to finish on some ways than that one about partnerships I think if we had a bit more time we would have more of a dialogue or a discussion about you know the role of partnerships in COP26 with all of the panelists but unfortunately we've we've essentially basically run out of time we've had a number of really good good questions that we haven't had a chance to get to on things like aviation and shipping on other kind of key parts of the energy transition the rise of energy prices, role of electrification but hopefully everybody has found it a useful conversation and I certainly have and I will kind of remind people that the recording of this will be up on our website but to bring us all to a close and to kind of neatly tie all these threads together in a knot if that's not too too big an ask I want to hand over to CISL, Cambridge Institute for Sustainability and Leadership CEO Claire Shine for a summary and closing remarks and reflections. Thanks Elliot, it makes it sound like I'm in a cat's cradle with a real tangle of threads and thank you all to the speakers for the great questions it's a total to try and pull some of those strands together I will humbly try recognising it's very imperfect and I've tried to pull things together from both the panels around three hooks the first is about realism about the starting point humility actually and what we will really need to achieve this paradigm shift so Sharon emphasised right from the start what in my language is the just transition that you need buy in from and benefit to the entire society and that is an absolute bedrock for moving forward for a just transition one speaker said a status quo can never be a just transition someone else said no transition without just transition and as Carol said we have to go both deep and broad in an audience like this although we come at it with different experience fundamentally it's possible to say the economy and climate are 100 aligned but we also have to remember as I think Duro said that there are as less visible dragging power that may hold back in some countries or in some sectors that there are there is much deeper political division than what we may want to think and that need for an overarching social agreement and shared understanding is something that we have to build and so messaging matters and coming at the messaging with fresh eyes and understanding that some of the language we may use or the assumptions we may bring may simply not be valid for some constituencies perhaps particularly in that post-COVID collectively bruised society that many of us around the world are inhabiting and therefore to think about how creatively you prepare a household as Sophie said how do you bring others on board how do you build social acceptance of an entire package I think that's a really interesting challenge and as Elliot will know I will often think about new types of voices and agency that may help us in that space for example cultural innovators and new kinds of mediators the second package was around leadership and legitimacy we had a lot of emphasis which I warmly welcome around accountability around due diligence that transparency is fundamental to move the transition in the right direction as I myself said we can't just do the wrong thing better or appear to advise others to do the wrong thing better and Kaya talked about the improvement of national data management capacities a Tiorna talked about climate determination and there was a loud agreement that we must keep that 1.5 degrees alive and kicking at COP26 several of you including Thomas Lingard spoke to this need for a higher level ambition we're talking here about floor not ceiling and there was the nice metaphor of moving beyond thinking like do no harm as used to be said in the field of medicine to becoming proactively net positive and advancing regenerative models of business we heard some issues about some tensions particularly from Pascal Confin the tension on the time frame that 2030 is too soon for true industrial transformation but it's too slow for climate so that issue of being able to talk openly about urgency and quality how we get it right but understand the perfection may not be within our grasp straight away that was another key point there was also the again I will use the word humility that understanding that stringency is critical but we are also in post COVID recovery and therefore the way we talk to these issues must also pass that legitimacy test with many constituencies the ring the raising the bar the higher ambition came out strongly with a call for smart co-working between progressive businesses many of whom are on this call and ministers and MEPs and also the need for clarity how are we going to change how are we going to show the world that we are willing to do what it takes and in that context we heard that feeling about the critical mass that a litmus test is where the companies will sign up to the raised to zero to really demonstrate that commitment and Joanne gave some great examples of the sector specific transition pathways and the way in which we can think about bolder policy pivots that can help some of those sectors and make quicker progress and the last point under the leadership and legitimacy related to getting the right mix of tools and instruments and there was several comments in the chat box about the need for better alignment of incentives to enable corporates for example to adapt to clean energy and the importance of policy not lagging behind business many of you are signatories to the letter which is actually showing that if business is going to go far further faster and more boldly then we need that right playing field to encourage the legal certainty and the incentive mix and finally very briefly my third hook was obviously around opportunity as France Timmermans highlighted I like the way that we think of fit 455 there you are Elliot I tried to say it more as a mission it's not jargon it's a mission it's a forward pathway that we can really use together as a stake in the ground a green deal is a growth strategy it's something to improve life and life chances for the millions for the hundreds of millions and that's a very important frame to the messaging and it can truly act as a springboard for transformative investment in new infrastructure new sectors new products and so on and wrapping up the EU in this in this context is beautifully positioned to make a real difference it has taken the risk it is embarked on the journey of plotting this multi-year pathway and that can really inspire businesses across sectors and also other countries and regions worldwide and again to close on Joanne's words that is not something that is Europe looking in it is Europe looking out and giving out but also learning from without so that we have really constructive feedback loops and sharing of innovation for the global public good so I'm now breathless I hope that that was coherent in terms of pulling some of my can take away takeaways together and I just want to thank again all of you for giving us your very valuable time to share your inputs hope to meet lots of you in Glasgow and I want to thank Elliot and the whole of the CISL team the CLG Europe team and everybody involved in the green growth partnership for bringing together everything that went into making today happen so thank you very much and good luck with all your work going forward bye bye for now