 It's wonderful to see the creativity and also what can be accomplished now digitally that was completely not possible or even imaginable just a few years ago. And certainly the digital technologies give us new solutions to sustainable development that really will accelerate our progress. And one of the most important champions in the UN system of finding new solutions is the UN Industrial Development Organization. So UNIDO is the part of the UN family that has the mandate, the responsibility and the capacity to propel industrial development for sustainable development. And we're really extraordinarily lucky to have with us this morning on the campus in a very, very busy schedule, the Director General, Gerd Mueller, of UNIDO. Gerd, welcome. I want to express. You see he's a big person in the international scene and a wonderful, wonderful personality and leader. Gerd has a very long distinguished career as a member of the European Parliament, as a State Secretary for the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, as the Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany, and now as Director General of UNIDO. And Gerd, I want to say thank you. We are partnering UNIDO and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network in hosting a new Council of Engineers for the Energy Transition Seat, we call it, which is an innovative initiative with the home at UNIDO, headquarters in Vienna. This is a worldwide Council of Engineers with expertise across the energy transition, across all of the subjects of renewable energy, energy storage, hydrogen and industrial development for clean industry. And I could not be more thrilled to be doing this together with you at UNIDO and have watched during our past year when I was privileged to be in Vienna during much of the year, UNIDO's great leadership. So thank you, welcome, and know that you have a worldwide online audience. And this is our first gathering in face to face since the pandemic ended. So we're delighted for the people warmly greeting you in person, but also to the worldwide audience listening to you. Gerd, thank you so much. Thank you so much, ladies and gentlemen, dear Jeffrey. It's a real great honor to be here, invited from you. And Jeffrey Sachs, you are the world's most competent and prominent scientists concerning all questions around sustainability, sustainable industrialization. I thank you so much for your great work, the last 20, 30 years. And now I'm here, I'm invited. That's really a great honor. UNIDO is the UN specialized agency for promoting and strengthening sustainable industrial development. We are a specific agency with a lot of technical expertise in this sector. So students, ladies and gentlemen, we are facing a world with many, many crises, a world with many wars, a world where a billion people go to bed hungry every day and live in poverty and hunger, a world where resources are scarce. Think about the water resources, think of the access to clean water, a world where Earth overshoot the war on August the 2nd, meaning that if all people lived and consumed like you, like we do it in U.S. or in Europe, we would need three Earths, a world where especially the global south is suffering the impacts of climate change and is hit the hardest, the poorest of the world are hit the hardest. Many of us here in New York, in the U.S., in Europe and in the industrialist countries live on the sunny side. The situation is totally different for millions of people in the global south, especially in Africa and Latin American countries. But every human being has a right to live in dignity. So we must recognize that we share one world and bear responsibility for global developments. Our world is interdependent. Everything is connected to everything. We are one world, Europe, Asia, Africa, America, we are one planet and we do have one future. If today, 10 percent of the rich, mainly in the industrialist countries, own 90 percent of the wealth and 20 percent of the people are responsible for 80 percent of the global environmental pollution, then students, ladies and gentlemen, then something is not right with how corporate we as one world. We need a change. We need to rethink and this especially with a few to the future. What will the future look like in 2050, young people? You will live until the end of this century. What will the future look like in 2050? First, the global population grows. We will have a global population then of about 10 billion people. The world population will grow by 80 million people every year. That is a country like Germany every year. And two-thirds of the population growth is happening in the developing countries. And by the end of the century, nine out of 10 or then maybe 11 billion people will live in, not in America or in Europe, nine of 10 will live in Africa and in Asia. The African continent will already double in size by 2050. This is a great opportunity but also a great challenge. Why? 70% of the people on the planet then live in cities. There is a huge need for investments in roads, infrastructure. And on the African continent alone, alone on the African continent today, the infrastructure of New York is being built every month. Can you imagine? Every month the infrastructure of New York. And that will continue to be built in the coming decades. Second, looking to the future 2050, the world food situation. The demand for food will increase by 50%. And SDG number one is hunger and poverty. So we need a solution for this challenge. 50% by 2050. And yet I say, a world without hunger is possible. What is necessary? We need an investment campaign in structural development, sustainable agriculture, processing. We need 50 billion. That is the research we did with Jeffrey Sachs, with institutes all over the world. We need 50 billion Euro in the next 10 years and with new technologies invested in new solutions in acrylic tech, a world without hunger is possible. Let's do it. Third, sustainable energy for all. Primary energy demand will increase by 70% from now by 2050 as a result of the growing population and catch up development in developing and emerging countries. So we need sustainable energy for all, sustainable energy for all because that is the precondition for economic development and job creation. Without energy, nothing is possible. No investment in health structure, digitalization, acrylic, industrialization, the basic condition is energy for this. But today 800 million people do not have access to electricity and 80% are still of this energy today is still based on fossil fuels. So the main question for the future is how, and that is what we are talking and thinking about in this technology group, how is it possible to decouple economic growth from CO2 emissions? That is the basic question. And second, what contribution be realistic? 80% today is fossil based. So the second question is what contribution can renewable energy, green hydrogen, realistically make to reach the world's energy needs? Think about this. Is it really possible, renewables only? Is it possible? I don't think the next 10 or 20 years. We must be open, force, climate change. It hits developing countries the hardest, especially the African continent and Latin American continents. In the past, the industrialized countries have caused the most emissions, 10% of the world, the world's richest people, US, Europe, the world's richest people are now responsible for 50% of total emissions, not the Africans. The G20 caused 80% of global emissions, 80%. So there must be the solution, the first important step. The 54 African countries are responsible for 4% of world emissions. The fifth point, demand for jobs. Because of the population growth, especially in developing countries, hundreds of millions of jobs, especially for young people, are needed. As UNIDO, we want to bring industrial policies, sustainable industrial policy back into focus. Security is the key driver for development and the engine for sustainable growth and job creation, jobs, jobs, jobs. That is the question in African countries, in Nigeria, in Congo. Without industry, no well-paid jobs, no medicines, no food security, no higher standard of living and quality of life. So sixth, digitalization and AI is a game changer worldwide. Digitalization is turning our planet into a global village. AI is the game changer. Knowledge is now available to the world's use all over the world, here or in Kinshasa. It doesn't matter to push a button anywhere in a fraction of a second. That is great for you, the young generation, that it's daily life that's normal, but that has changed even the last 10 years. And the question for us today is whether the glasses are full or half empty. Ladies and gentlemen, today far too many people are increasingly simply describing crisis scenarios, spreading alarmismos. That is not enough. We have today the technologies, the solutions, the knowledge, and the global capital for solutions. A world without hunger, I believe, underline again is possible. And climate change can be limited. It's up to us. So we know how to do, but we need ambition and the will to follow through. And we need a new spirit, action now. The 2030 agenda, the Paris Climate Agreement, the Biodiversity Convention are the global framework for the global solution approach. Now we need the political will to act decisively. And now this SDG Summit and this UN summit, we don't need more speeches, more papers. We know what to do. The only thing that we need is the political will of political leaders in the world to act now and to strengthen global solidarity in a global world. First peace and tolerance, that also means disarmament instead of global rearmament. Currently, $2 trillion are invested annually in armaments and only $170 billion, not even 10% of this, in global development cooperation. This trend must be reversed. Second, we need strengthened global solidarity. Industrialized countries not only have an obligation, but a strong interest in solutions and must live up to their commitments to the global south. Specifically, this means delivering on 0.7 pledges. The $100 billion for climate action must be fulfilled now. The G7 and G20 promises to develop 500 million people out of hunger and poverty must be filled. The climate change loss and damage fund must be congratulatized at this scale by COP28. I strongly support UN Secretary General Guterres call for an SDG stimulus. What we really need is a new deal of a fair globalization of global solidarity with a new spirit of international partnership. This also means investing in local value creation, industrial innovation and infrastructure for local production in developing countries. This means fair global world trade with ecological and social standards. Tomorrow I will visit Leif for Costa Rica, one of the main coffee producers in the world. Think about this value chain. Where starts the coffee production and how is the situation for workers, for families, for children at the plantations? And where ends the coffee production here? They get 50 cent for a kilo of robins and we have to pay 10 or 15 dollars then at the end of the value change. I am thinking for example of the mining industry and the plantation economy. Ladies and gentlemen, UNIDO is the partner of developing and emerging countries. We are a bridge for the transfer of technology, knowledge and investments from industrialized to developing countries. At UNIDO we want to bring industrial policy back into focus because the question is how to create new jobs, hundreds of millions of jobs in developing countries. So UNIDO stands ready to serve as a global implementation partner in support of developing countries and LDGs with a special focus on Africa. Using the potential of circular economy, reducing waste, plastic and sewage emissions, ending hunger by investing in sustainable agriculture, new technologies, climate resilience seats. We do have the solutions to increase the yield per hectare, to double it and digitalization and vocational training also especially the empowerment of women. For these purposes UNIDO is establishing agricultural competence centers and close cooperation in various African and Latin American countries. So together we must change direction. We need a major course correction towards sustainable, inclusive industrialization. We have a transformed entire industrial and energy system. That is not only a challenge, that is even a chance. But for it huge investments are needed in renewable energy, capacity, hydrogen production and carbon capture technologies. Digitalization and AI is a critical success factor and it's a way forward. This is transforming our food and agricultural system which accounts for one third of the global emissions. It is necessary to ramp up large investments in every sector of decarbonization and industrialized countries again must take responsibility for all of this. Again my message, ladies and gentlemen, dear Jeffrey, is the good news is we know what to do and how to do it. We have the technology, the knowledge for solutions, but we must act now. Above all developing countries and LDCs need our solidarity, fair partnership and support. So let us cooperate, let us act and share ideas. Let us work in solidarity to protect our planet and humanity. Thank you so much. Thank you so much and you put Unido's role so clearly in the middle of this because we need these transformations. They are technological, they are investment and they are requiring a policy to bring them about not just the market by itself but organizing the public sector, the private sector, the international cooperation, the training, the knowledge. And Gerd, just following your remarks, we will have the pleasure of President and honor of President Schissaketti of the DRC coming to speak. And you nailed it because I know that the President is especially interested in two issues. One is how to promote renewable energy given that the DRC is home to a vast potential of hydropower at Grand Inga and other renewable energy and also how to develop industrial value chains, for example, in batteries because the DRC of course is the world's largest producer of cobalt. But that cobalt is now just exported as cobalt or rather than as an industrial product with a much higher value. So how to develop a battery supply chain. So it seems to me that Unido is exactly the partner that the DRC needs. I wonder about how to build stronger and stronger engagement. Thank you so much. I several times visited Congo. First question. Africa, especially the Congo, could become the green continent of renewable energies. There is the potential of water, wind, sun. And my last visit in Kenya, that's the best example. Kenya is based, the energy, 90% of using renewable energies. For example, Giozami. Yeah, so what they need is investment, partnership, and our technology, technology transfer, and then it is, that is possible. What can Unido, which parts of those challenges is Unido uniquely place to help fulfill? Unido is something like a bridge. I like to underline my main message. We do have the technology here in US, in companies, in Europe, in China, in Asian countries. So as a bridge, bring private companies, bring technology, bring university from industrialized countries with their technology and with their solutions to developing countries, combine it, and then it is possible to start a new spirit and progress, especially in the sector of energy and industrialization. There are three big sectors. The first question is food security. And there we need investment in agritech. The second is renewable energy. That is the basic for every development. And I always call it energy is the better, the good sister for climate protection or climate change. We need renewable energies. We need resource efficiency. We need hydrogen. The technology is used in China, in US. So Unido is the partner to bring technology, knowledge, and investments in these countries, in our partner countries, in developing areas. Absolutely wonderful. Very exciting, because we're going to make some breakthroughs today. Not only a conference, but I think some very practical steps to build that bridge that you are so clearly explaining to us is needed and feasible. And also, Gerard, later today will also have the great pleasure to have your colleague as one of the UN leaders, Dong Yu Xu, the director general of FAO. So that's another natural partner, FAO and Unido, working on the food security together with Congo and together with other countries. Yes, of course. Within the UN family, we have to work close together. And the food sector is the basic. In every family, they ask every day how is the food today. And 8 million people, they have still not a solution. But we have the solution. I will tell you, I will, one example, how and what is possible within a few years. Unido with some partners, we invested in a cluster, in a wheat cluster in Ethiopia. The last three years, with new technologies, for example, new irrigation technologies, new seeds. And what was the result? After three years, Ethiopia doubled, more than doubled the yield per hectare and becomes now from an importer of wheat to an exporter. And that shows it is possible to create a world without hunger. But we must act. And speeches alone don't change the world situation. Gerd, let me thank you so much for being here, but especially for your vision and leadership. You know, listening to you this morning, it gives me and I'm sure everybody lots of ideas of very practical next steps, big steps, big scalable steps. You just talked about Ethiopia becoming a food exporter, a wheat exporter rather than a wheat importer, a tremendous change in a short period of time. And we are in this age of industrial transformation. Thank goodness you are helping to lead it. I am convinced so much that we need a stronger and stronger United Nations system, because this is the system that really brings the world together. We're organized by nation-states historically, but we are living in a global world. And we're building global governance, and one of the absolute central pillars of that is UNIDO and industrial development. We're extremely lucky to have you as the visionary director general of UNIDO. You have all our support. Please join me in thanking Gerd Mueller for being with us today. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much, not only for invitations for your great, great work around the world. And he brings scientists, politicians together from China, Asia, Africa to U.S. And that is great over years and years. Thank you so much, Jeffrey.