President Pahor at the UN on the urgency of climate action

President Borut Pahor attended a high-level meeting on climate change convened by the President of the 76th session of UN General Assembly ahead of the COP26 Climate Change Conference in Glasgow.

The meeting, entitled "Delivering Climate Action: for People, Planet, and Prosperity", took place just days before the start of the Climate Change Conference in Glasgow. It aimed to strengthen political will for the success of the COP26.

President Pahor, who attended the UN event virtually, stressed the commitment to keeping the rise in temperature below 1.5 degrees Celsius and the need to increase funding for climate change mitigation and adaptation.

The President recalled Slovenia's recent achievement in partnering with Costa Rica, the Maldives, Morocco and Switzerland to have the UN Human Rights Council declare living in a healthy, clean, sustainable environment a universal human right.

The event took place in a hybrid format in the General Assembly Hall at the UN Headquarters.



Below is the text of the address by President of the Republic of Slovenia Borut Pahor. Check against delivery!

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I sincerely thank the President of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly for convening this meeting.

Five days before COP 26, this is one of last attempts to galvanise political support and determination for its success.

For the success, we need to reach an agreement on at least three global climate “touchstones”:

· The 1.5 temperature goal;
· Global climate partnerships; and
· Cooperation and political support for climate finance.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

More than ever, we need to trust the science.

The latest IPCC Report is a wake-up call. The temperature goal is still within our reach, but we need to act faster.

Second: Crucial element of success will be forming climate partnerships on various aspects of our common efforts.

Let me illustrate this with a recent important achievement.

Slovenia has, together with Costa Rica, the Maldives, Morocco and Switzerland, achieved that the Human Rights Council recognized that a healthy environment should be considered as a human right.

We can now say with much pride that every human being anywhere around the globe has the human right to live in a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment.

Third: there is a clear need for increasing the support and finance for climate mitigantion and adaption - both in our own countries, as well as in sharing our global responsibility for climate change.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let me conclude with a quote from the recent publication of spiritual leader and yet another renowned climate activist, Pope Francis: “We cannot act alone, for each of us is fundamentally responsible to care for others and for the environment. This commitment should lead to an urgently needed change of direction.”

Thank you for your attention.