We all depend on the environment, and the environment depends on us. Without a stable climate, our economies will suffer and global security will be at risk. Humanity’s activities are driving climate change with damaging consequences for people and the natural world. By reducing - and ultimately eliminating - net greenhouse gas emissions, we will avert greater damage still and build a cleaner and more prosperous future with more jobs, greater security, and a healthier natural environment.

We know that we must collectively do much more to combat the threat of climate change at the speed and scale required to achieve this. We have a duty to act urgently to cut greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade, to unlock climate finance for developing countries, and to achieve net zero global emissions by the middle of this century. We must do this in a way that boosts growth and job opportunities in our own communities, and that spreads prosperity and alleviates poverty across the world.

​

We will not achieve these aims by harming the economy or through an exclusively state-led approach. We need to harness the expertise and creativity of businesses and entrepreneurs and mobilise them as our allies in this endeavour. We must unleash the power of climate-friendly free markets, private finance, and free trade to drive down costs, spark innovation, and create incentives for responsible businesses and individuals to take up technological and nature-based solutions to climate change.

It is the duty of our generation to provide these pragmatic but ambitious solutions and to work together to combat the threat of climate change in our local communities, our nations, and across the world. We will use our political power and influence to meet this challenge and protect and enhance both the environment and the economy now and for the benefit of those who come after us.