Pedro Sánchez calls for a redoubling of efforts in the fight against the climate emergency: "Climate change kills"

Baku (Azerbaijan)

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, together with the participants in the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP29) (Pool COP)

It is the main multilateral forum for global decision-making in the fight against climate change.

"Fulfil the promise you made to humanity seven years ago when you signed the Paris Agreement," said the president of the Government of Spain in front of the rest of the world leaders in the COP29 plenary. In a complex geopolitical context, Pedro Sánchez has called for action by the rest of the international community to address this "existential threat".

For the Government of Spain, if there is one thing that has highlighted the devastating impact of increasingly frequent extreme weather events and which makes it essential to redouble efforts in the fight against climate emergencies and adaptation to their effects, it has been the recent floods, particularly in Valencia. "The only thing that is as important as helping the victims of this terrible tragedy is to prevent it from happening again, to prevent natural disasters from repeating and multiplying," explained Pedro Sánchez.

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, during his speech at the Plenary of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP29) | Pool Moncloa/Fernando Calvo

To this end, he gave the example of Spain's firm commitment. The president of the Government of Spain announced the contribution of 17.5 million euros to the Adaptation Fund in 2024 and explained that our country has exceeded the targets set by mobilising 1.4 billion euros for climate finance two years ahead of schedule. It has also set out the path Spain is taking to become carbon neutral and environmentally friendly by 2050.

"Pedro Sánchez warned that the ecological transition is not incompatible with the well-being of nations and that, unlike "those who deny science," if sustainability is not achieved, levels of well-being and security will fall over the next decade.

A reality that "has gone from academic articles to our televisions and windows," so he called for action against "governments that dither or even deny science, turn around and walk backwards," to avoid a formula that will only "lead us all to disaster."

International climate finance

The main topic of discussion in this issue is the new collective international climate finance target. In this regard, the president of the Government of Spain took part in the Leaders' Roundtable on Finance entitled "Enabling climate finance: the make-or-break moment for a sustainable future", which provided an opportunity to discuss how to increase public finance and the mobilisation of finance in line with the needs of developing countries.

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, during the High Level Event on Climate Finance: "The Make-or-Break moment for a sustainable future" | Pool Moncloa/Fernando Calvo

During his speech, President Sánchez said that Baku should be remembered as the moment when "we transformed our abstract words into concrete figures" and that the international climate finance target reached "will measure the degree of commitment to future generations."

To this end, he explained that it is necessary to reform the international financial architecture so that it is capable of providing more financing and on better terms. In this respect, the agreements reached at COP29 will serve as a basis for the changes that Spain hopes to agree on at the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development to be held in Seville in June next year.

The president also spoke at the High Level Panel on Taxation for Climate Finance, where he reaffirmed the Government's commitment to boosting climate finance in a fair and economically sustainable way, focusing on those sectors, activities and individuals who "are not yet paying their fair share."

Health and climate change

The president also participated in the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) event entitled "The Health Argument for Climate Action". The WHO has presented a report for COP29 which highlights that climate change is making us sick and aims to put people's health at the centre of climate policies.

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, during the event "The Health Argument for Climate Action" | Pool Moncloa/Fernando Calvo

The head of the Executive has argued that health "is not just another thing that is affected by climate change and the ecological crisis," but is the end point where each and every one of its effects is concentrated.

In Spain, some 24,000 people die each year due to pollution, and in 2023 and 2024 there were more than 3,000 and 2,000 deaths, respectively, attributable to heat waves. The effects of the DANA in Valencia are the latest devastating example.

"Human health, the health of the planet and the health of the rest of the living beings that inhabit it are a single health that we must preserve. There cannot be healthy people on a sick planet," explained the president, who also pointed to the positive messages that the WHO has identified in its report: we do not have to choose between improving health and fighting climate change, but rather they are mutually reinforcing.

According to the report, a progressive, fair and orderly phase-out of fossil fuels could prevent almost 2 million deaths per year in the next decade. This is almost three times the number of deaths caused by malaria or HIV, two of the world's biggest health problems today.

For this reason, the president of the Government of Spain reaffirmed health and climate must also be dealt with jointly in the context of future COPs.

Bilateral meetings of the president of the Government of Spain

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, and the Secretary General of the UN, António Guterres, greet each other | Pool Moncloa/Fernando Calvo

During the Summit, the president of the Government of Spain held several bilateral meetings in which he reviewed the most pressing COP29 issues and bilateral relations.

In this regard, he met with the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan and host of the Climate Summit, Ilham Aliyev, whom he thanked for his hospitality and organisation of COP29. They also discussed the state of bilateral relations.

Along similar lines, the president spoke with the Crown Prince of Jordan, His Highness Hussein Bin Abdullah, with whom he shared a common commitment to the fight against climate change, as well as the situation in the Middle East, where both countries advocate a horizon of peace and security in the region based on the two-state solution.

The president of the Government of Spain also met with the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, with whom he agreed that, in the complex international context in which the climate agenda is being developed, the multilateral system is the only possible framework for finding solutions to climate change.

Non official translation