UNIS/SGSM/1377
24 January 2024
Clean energy is the gift that keeps giving:
It can purify polluted air;
Meet growing energy demand;
Secure supplies;
And connect billion of people to affordable power – helping to ensure electricity access to all by 2030.
That is all while saving money and saving the planet.
A fair, just, equitable, and urgent transition from dirty fossil fuels to clean energy is essential to avoid the worst of climate chaos and spur sustainable development.
So, I celebrate this first International Day of Clean Energy;
I applaud the work of the International Renewable Energy Agency;
And I welcome the call made by countries at COP28 to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030.
It is my firm belief that fossil fuel phase out is not only necessary, it is inevitable.
But we need governments to act, to accelerate the transition, with the biggest emitters leading the way.
That means unleashing a surge in climate finance – particularly, governments reforming the business model of multilateral development banks so that affordable finance flows.
It means countries creating new national climate plans by 2025 that map a fair and just transition to clean power.
And it means governments closing the door on the fossil fuel era – with justice and equity.
Our clean energy future is unstoppable.
Together, let’s bring it into being faster.
Thank you.
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The UN Convention against Cybercrime aims to prevent and combat cybercrime more efficiently and effectively, including by strengthening international cooperation and by providing technical assistance and capacity-building support, particularly for developing countries.
I welcome the landmark adoption of a new international convention on cybercrime by the United Nations General Assembly. This remarkable step represents the first UN international legal instrument on crime-related issues in over 20 years, and it comes at exactly the right time.
"On this International Day of Epidemic Preparedness, I call on countries to heed the lessons of past health emergencies to help prepare for the next." — António Guterres
The new Permanent Representative of Ghana to the United Nations (Vienna), Matilda Aku Alomatu Osei-Agyeman, presented her credentials today to the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Vienna (UNOV), Ghada Waly.
