Below are remarks from UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell, delivered at the Global Climate Action high-level closing event at COP30 in Belém, Brazil, on Wednesday 19 November 2025.
Excellencies,
Colleagues, dear Friends,
We have said throughout this COP that the world is watching and willing climate cooperation to stand firm in a fractured world.
The Climate Action Agenda is showing this cooperation at work:
COP30 has racked up an impressive scorecard of real-world climate actions that will also mean stronger economies, more jobs and better lives for many millions.
A trillion-dollar charge into the clean energy and grids.
A global plan to quadruple sustainable fuel.
Moves to unlock new waves of green industry.
The pipeline for new adaptation investment, among many others.
Meanwhile in national climate plans, we are seeing whole-of-economy, and whole-of-society approaches coming to the fore.
This is transformational - unthinkable only a few years ago.
But this is no moment for self-congratulations - this is the moment to step up.
To strive for measurable, real-world results for people, for economies, and for the planet.
This is the Climate Action Agenda.
I want to acknowledge the COP30 Presidency for its clarity of purpose as we work to ensure the Action Agenda works hand-in-hand with the formal negotiations process.
This alignment matters deeply.
It is helping ministers and ministries design climate plans rooted in practical solutions that cut emissions and strengthen resilience; helping governments unlock jobs, investment, cleaner air, and more secure, affordable energy for your citizens, businesses and vital services like hospitals and schools.
The Climate Action Agenda is not a nice-to-have on the side. It is mission critical, and a key part of the Paris Agreement.
I have said many times that, in this new era, we must strive to bring the formal COP process closer to the real economy, for faster implementation, and to spread the vast benefits to billions more people.
The Climate Action Agenda enables and harnesses the momentum we are seeing in the real economy.
And it shows that the work of negotiators and the work of the real economy can and must work together to deliver the Paris Agreement.
This is no accident. For [a decade], the Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action has been essential for a global ecosystem of non-Party stakeholders, and it can - it will - do much more.
It has brought together businesses, cities, regions, investors, civil society, including Indigenous Peoples - helping sustain momentum, share innovation, and keep ambition rising even in the toughest of geopolitical conditions.
That collaborative architecture has never been more essential.
It is the bridge that connects national ambition to local action, global goals to community realities.
It has been strengthened immeasurably by the leadership of our Climate High-Level Champions, Nigar and Dan.
Your work with the 5-year vision provides the continuity and inclusivity required for the future of this agenda.
You have been indispensable partners - to the process, to the Presidency, and to the UNFCCC secretariat. Count on me and my team to accompany you and future Champions in this journey to make this vision a reality. Thank you.
Colleagues, this Climate Action Agenda is a central catalyst for implementation: where multilevel governance and cooperation between governments and non-Party actors accelerates us towards our goals.
The responsibility now lies with all of us - Parties and non-Parties, public and private sectors, national and subnational implementers - to deliver results fast, fairly, and at scale.
Because people everywhere deserve to have the benefits of climate action: better health, more resilient communities, greater security and prosperity.
And because every moment of delay is far too costly.
So let us close the gap between commitments and delivery that protects and improves people's lives.
To turn the signals from the Climate Action Agenda into accelerated action across every sector.
And to show the world that climate cooperation stands firm, serving the interests of every nation, every economy and every person.
I thank you.
