Below are remarks delivered by UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell at the COP30 Leaders' Summit session on "10 years of the Paris Agreement: NDCs and Financing" in Belém, Brazil, on Friday 7 November 2025.
Excellencies,
Friends,
Over three decade ago in Rio, humanity set a new course of global climate cooperation.
Ten years ago, in Paris, we took a major step forward.
Without that act of collective courage, we would still be heading for an impossible future of unchecked heating, of up to 5 degrees.
Because of it, the curve has bent below 3°C - still perilous, but proof that climate cooperation works.
The clean energy revolution is booming, though we need to ensure all countries can get fully on board.
Last year, two trillion dollars flowed into renewables - twice as much as fossil fuels.
Ninety per cent of new power capacity worldwide was renewable.
Our focus today - climate plans and climate finance - are the spark that can accelerate action, driving green growth and resilience for every nation.
Our analysis shows progress: not just in bending the emissions curve, but more credible, whole-of-economy plans; stronger links to adaptation, just transitions, and gender equality; closer alignment with the Global Stocktake and with real-world delivery.
And, we see major economies saying they will strive to do better.
Because nations that move fast will gain the greatest share of the clean-energy boom reshaping global growth.
I commend those who have submitted their plans - and urge those who haven't to do so now.
Here in Belém, we must accelerate on all fronts. That means doubling down on international cooperation. Our not-so-secret weapon in the climate fight.
But we all know that plans without finance cannot reach their full potential.
Finance is the great accelerator.
The Baku to Belém Roadmap charts the path from $300 billion a year to $1.3 trillion by 2035 - and it must become reality.
This is shared interest, not charity - an investment in stability and prosperity.
Every dollar invested in climate solutions brings multiple dividends: jobs, cleaner air, better health, resilient global supply chains, stronger energy and food security.
To unlock that transformation, finance must be scaled up, sped up, and spread out - reaching every nation, fast, fair, and in full.
Friends, the Paris Agreement has proved that global cooperation is working to deliver progress, but still not fast enough.
Ten years on, we must prove it again - by making this extraordinary framework work faster and fairer, for everyone, everywhere.
History will not ask what we intended.
It will ask what we achieved.
Thank you.
