It is a great pleasure to speak to you all here as Director General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization. UNIDO is the UN specialized agency for promoting and strengthening sustainable industrial development. In the face of multiple global crises, this mandate is now more important than ever.

Looking at the world around us, we can and must talk about crises and challenges. A world with many wars - a world where a billion people go to bed hungry every day and live in poverty and hunger.

A world where resources are scarce – think of the precarious access to clean water. A world where “Earth Overshoot Day” was on August 2nd, meaning that if all people lived and consumed like we do in the USA or in Europe, we would need three Earths. A world where especially the Global South is suffering the impacts of climate change and is hit the hardest.

Many of us in the US, Europe and the industrialized countries live on the sunny side.  The situation is different for millions of people in the Global South, especially in Africa and Latin America. But every human being has a right to live in dignity.

We must recognize that we share one world and bear responsibility for global developments. Our world is interdependent: everything is connected to everything else. We are one world, one planet with one future.

If today 10% of the rich mainly in the industrialized countries own 90% of the wealth, and 20% of the people are responsible for 80% of the global environmental pollution, then something is not right with how we cooperate as one world.

We need a change, we need to rethink. And this especially with a view to the future. What will the future look like in 2050?

First, consider global population growth. We will have a global population pushing towards 10 billion, the world population is growing by 80 million people every year, two thirds of them in developing countries.

By the end of the century, 9 out of 10 people will live in Africa or Asia. The African continent will already double in population by 2050. This is a great opportunity but also a great challenge.

Seventy percent of the people on the planet will live in cities. There is a huge need for investments in roads, infrastructure, ports. On the African continent alone, the infrastructure of New York is being built every month and will continue to be built in the coming decades.

Second: the world food situation. The demand for food will increase by 50% by 2050. And yet I say, "A world without hunger is possible".

We need an investment campaign in structural development, sustainable agriculture, processing. We need 50 billion euros in the next ten years and with new technologies, with new solutions, a world without hunger is possible.

Third: the need for sustainable energy for all. Primary energy demand will increase by 70% by 2050 as a result of the growing population and catch-up development in developing and emerging countries. So we need sustainable energy for all. Because that is the prerequisite for any and all economic development and job creation.

Today, 800 million people do not have access to electricity, and 80% are still based on fossil fuels. So the main question is: "How is it possible to decouple economic growth from CO2 emissions?" - and what contribution can renewable energy, green hydrogen, realistically make to meeting the world's energy needs?

Fourth: Climate Change. In the past, the industrialized countries have caused the most emissions.  Now, 10% of the world's richest people are now responsible for 50% of total emissions. The G-20 cause 80% of global emissions. At the same time, 54 African countries are responsible for only 4% of global emissions.

Fifth: the demand for jobs. Because of the population growth I mentioned earlier, especially in developing countries, hundreds of millions, especially young people, need jobs.

As UNIDO, we want to bring industrial policy back into focus. Industry is a key driver for development and the engine for sustained growth and job creation. Without industry, no well-paid jobs, no medicines, no food security, no higher standard of living and quality of life.

Sixth: digitalization and AI is a game-changer. Digitization is turning our planet ever more so into a global village. Knowledge is now available to the world's youth at the push of a button, anywhere, in a fraction of a second.

The question for us today is whether the glass is half full or half empty? Are we pessimists, optimists or realists? All progress begins with looking at reality.

Today far too many people are increasingly simply describing crisis scenarios, spreading alarmism.

But we have the technologies, the knowledge and the global capital for solutions. A world without hunger is possible. Climate change can be limited. It is possible to resolve the challenge in developing countries to create jobs for millions of people.

So, the good news is that first, we know what to do. Second, we know how to do it. But we need the ambition and the will to follow through!

The 2030 Agenda, the Paris Climate Agreement, the Biodiversity Convention are the global framework for the global solution approach.

Now we need the political will to act decisively.

To strengthen global solidarity in a global world, first peace and tolerance, that also means disarmament instead of global rearmament. Currently, over two trillion dollars are invested annually in armaments and only $170 billion in global development cooperation. This trend must be reversed!

 Second, we need strengthened global solidarity. Industrialized countries not only have an obligation, but a strong interest in solutions and must live up to their commitments to the Global South.

Specifically, this means delivering on 0.7% pledges. The $100 billion for climate action must be fulfilled now. The G7 and G20 promises to develop 500 million people out of hunger and poverty must be fulfilled. The Climate Change Loss and Damage Fund must be concretized at this scale by COP28.

I strongly support UN Secretary General Guterres' call for an SDG stimulus. What we really need is a "New Deal" of fair globalization, of global solidarity with a new spirit of international partnerships.

This also means investing in local value creation, industrial innovation and infrastructure for local production in developing countries. This means fair, global world trade with ecological and social standards. The exploitation of people and nature in global supply chains must be ended!

I am thinking for example of the mining industry, and the plantation economy. Or consider coffee production, on which 120 million people depend. This must be put on a fair footing.

UNIDO is the partner of developing and emerging countries. We are a bridge for the transfer of technology, knowledge and investments from industrialized to developing countries.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

So UNIDO stands ready to serve as global implementation partner in support of emerging economies, developing countries and especially LDCs. In supporting their sustainable economic transformation development, our priorities are:

- climate change and mitigation,

- promoting sustainable industrialization,

- the clean energy transition, scaling up renewable energies and hydrogen production,

- using the potential of circular economy, reducing waste, plastic and sewage emissions.

- Ending hunger by investing in sustainable agriculture, new technologies, climate resilience seeds,

- And digitalization and vocational training, also especially the empowerment of women.

For these purposes, UNIDO is establishing agricultural competence centers and close cooperation in various African and Latin American countries.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Together we must change direction. We need a major course correction towards sustainable, inclusive industrialization. We have to transform entire industrial and energy systems.

That is not only a challenge, that is also a chance. But for it, huge investments are needed in renewable energy capacity, hydrogen production and carbon capture technologies.

Digitalization and AI is a critical success factor in the way forward. As is transforming our food- and agricultural system, which accounts for about one third of global emissions. 

It is necessary to ramp up large investments in every sector of decarbonization. Industrialized countries must take responsibility for all this.

And again my core message ladies and gentlemen: the good news is we know what to do and how to do it. We have the technology and the knowledge for solutions. But we must act now.

Above all, developing countries and LDC's need our solidarity, fair partnerships and support.

Let us cooperate, let us act and share ideas, let us work in solidarity to protect our planet and humanity.

Thank you so much.