The Paris Agreement is a milestone in the fight against climate change, one of the best and most visible outcomes of multilateral cooperation. Five years after the historic breakthrough in Paris, we know that we must redouble our efforts to ensure that we actually achieve the targets laid down in the Climate Agreement. The consequences of climate change are evident and have in part already reached devastating proportions. In many places of the world, they are robbing people of their livelihoods and posing a threat to stability and security. Also here in Germany, we are not immune from the consequences.

I am convinced that we can only be successful in combatting climate change if we work together, shoulder to shoulder with our partners. And there have been promising signs lately: US President-elect Joe Biden has announced his intention to lead the United States back to the Paris Agreement. In recent months, China, Japan, Korea and other states have committed to new, long-term targets. In the EU, we this week agreed a new, more ambitious climate target for 2030. These are all encouraging signals on the road to the next climate conference (COP26) to be held in Glasgow in November 2021. Let us together use the opportunity to push ahead with implementing the Paris Climate Agreement and to invest now in a sustainable future.