Below are remarks to be delivered by UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell at the Green Growth Summit this afternoon in Brussels, Belgium, on Monday 16 March 2026.
Recent weeks have delivered yet another abject lesson.
Fossil fuel dependency is ripping away national security and sovereignty, and replacing it with subservience and rising costs.
And Europe is more reliant on fossil fuel imports than almost any other major economy.
That cost you over €420 billion in 2024 alone.
Fossil fuel dependency means economies, household budgets, and business bottom lines at the mercy of geopolitical shocks and price volatility in a chaotic world.
A world of trade turmoil, strong-arm politics, and war.
The European Central Bank had recently said that the EU economy is in a good place.
But electricity prices are spiraling. And inflation will likely return.
Because war in the Middle East has sent the oil and gas price soaring. Just as war in Ukraine did before.
The impact of faltering energy supplies is being felt around the world.
From universities closing early in Bangladesh. To plans to cut public working hours in the Philippines. Countries are reeling.
Some responses to the fossil fuel crisis - incredibly - argue for doubling-down on the cause of the problem and slowing the shift to renewable energy. Even though it is clearly cheaper, safer, and faster to market.
This is completely delusional.
Because history tells us, this fossil fuel crisis will happen again and again.
In this new world disorder where some major powers do as they please, unconstrained by economic logic or current alliances.
My message to ministers meeting today in Brussels is simple: meek dependence on fossil fuel imports will leave Europe forever lurching from crisis to crisis, with households and industries literally paying the price.
All as climate disasters wreak growing havoc the world over - pushing costs up and economic growth down, taking a massive human toll.
In Europe, climate extremes cost €43 billion in economic losses, last summer alone. And that is a conservative estimate.
While the fossil fuels that supercharge disasters rake-in trillions in taxpayer-funded subsidies globally. Money that could be far better spent.
But renewables turn the tables.
Sunlight doesn't depend on narrow and vulnerable shipping straits.
Wind blows without massive taxpayer-funded naval escorts.
Renewable energy allows countries to insulate themselves from global turmoil, and to side-step might-is-right politics.
Renewable energy also delivers on people's top priorities across the continent: security, well-paid jobs, better health, and relief from rising living costs.
There's a lot of commentary about populism at the moment.
But the reality is, what most voters are demanding, climate action delivers at scale.
Renewables and resilience keep bills down and create far more jobs.
Cutting-out fossil fuel pollution cleans our air, improving health and quality of life.
And meeting the EU's 2040 emissions reduction target would boost your economy 2%. This will add hundreds of billions of Euros every year, and delivering vast human and societal benefits, including more stability.
Today, Europe has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to harness these benefits.
Build on its longstanding climate leadership.
And cement competitiveness, stability, and rising living standards for years to come.
In an era of chaos, capital is searching for safe, strategic growth, sending record sums into Europe.
The EU can turn that trend into a permanent pillar of jobs and prosperity with strong climate action:
In climate resilience - essential to human safety and economic stability as disasters intensify.
And by setting out how you will thrive in a decarbonising world - as electrification accelerates, supercharging clean energy services, and innovation.
The opportunities are immense.
Last year, renewables overtook coal as the world's top electricity source.
Over two trillion dollars was invested in clean energy. Double that of fossil fuels.
Already, Europe is a leader in climate action and ambition.
Your Emissions Trading Scheme is driving investment and innovation.
And European companies are at the forefront of clean industries and growth:
Like SSAB, Maersk, and Holcim - leaders on green steel, shipping, and cement.
Or Siemens, Schneider, and IPS - pioneers in wind power, energy storage, and electro-tech services.
Europe can permanently seize the multi-trillion-euro goldmine of investment that's just getting started.
By embracing green growth, drawing on your many strengths - education, strong institutions, smart regulation, social justice, and innovation and intellectual property.
And by backing it up with plans and policies.
That deliver on your NDC - in full and on time.
That show how you will transition away from fossil fuels, swiftly and fairly.
That upgrade grids - improving connections across borders.
That stand firm behind the ETS - as more than 100 businesses requested just last week, while also recognising complex trade issues, and the need for an inclusive global transition.
And that position you at the fore of the electro-tech revolution, including through your new Electrification Action Plan.
Europe's companies are essential to supporting these efforts.
By continuing your leadership.
And pushing governments for more - showing you're behind them.
Because stronger policies mean more secure economies, and more opportunities for business, as decarbonisation reaches positive tipping points.
And a faster transition around the world means greater gains for Europe and its businesses of all sizes.
A prosperous EU depends on strong partnerships that empower others, especially developing nations.
And on global supply chains that can withstand climate extremes - crucial to keeping inflation down.
Climate cooperation is a cure for the chaos of this moment, and beyond:
Through trade deals and partnerships, countries can create the conditions for more stable and sustainable economies the world over.
COPs are at the heart of those efforts.
And they're delivering - even if not fast enough.
UN convened cooperation and European leadership have been critical to global climate action - the Paris Agreement has roughly halved projected global temperature rise.
It has unleashed the global clean energy revolution.
And last year, amid gale-force political headwinds, every country at COP30 said Paris is working, and resolved to make it go further, faster.
Year after year, EU leadership has driven ambition at COPs.
I urge you to keep it up. Stand up for the process. And step up to the moment.
As we move into a new era of climate action - an era of implementation - there are vast opportunities.
Increasingly, COPs will match-make between governments, businesses, and investors to turn commitments into huge benefits for people.
That's what's known as the Action Agenda. It's as much a part of the Paris Agreement as the negotiations.
And it's making significant progress - at COP30, a trillion dollars were committed to grids and storage, major funding breakthroughs were delivered on health and climate, and huge steps forward were made in resilience and protecting forests.
COP31 in Türkiye will drive this approach forward.
So, I urge you to seize this moment. With companies coming to COPs to secure agreements that help tackle the climate crisis while boosting their bottom lines.
And the EU building new partnerships that benefit all, through your global gateway.
Investing in value chains in partner countries, accelerating their transitions, and building their resilience. Strengthening alliances in the process.
This goes to the heart of what Europe stands for.
Last century, when a continent reeling from war came together to build the foundations of integration, energy was top of the list.
Because countries understood that secure and affordable energy supplies, achieved through cooperation, were the basis of peace and prosperity.
Today, these truths are more important than ever.
Thank you.
