Toespraak van minister Ploumen bij het seminar over private climate finance

Toespraak | 11-06-2014

Ladies and gentlemen, 

Welcome to this seminar and thank you for your input and active participation so far. The MoMo set-up, however ridiculous the word may be, is a good way to identify both ideas and barriers to effective cooperation on private climate finance. I have to say, it’s a bit strange for me as a politician to stand here in front of you, while I’m about the only speaker today who doesn’t have to compete for your vote… But let’s give it a go.

Climate change needs to be addressed. Your moderator today, Simon Maxwell says: ‘find a simple way to tell the story about climate change’. I couldn’t agree more. The simple truth for me is: we will all be out of business if we do not act and there will be a lot of business if we do act. The UN now predicts that two-thirds of arable land in Africa will be lost by 2025. That’s already in ten years from now! And more people are faced with flooding and other natural disasters every year. If the livelihoods of large groups of people are at risk, so are welfare and stability for the regions they live in. Eventually this will affect all of us. The March IPCC report for the first time also warns us about this. A world with increased resource scarcity and instability is not good for business. Not for your business. And not for my business, as the results of development cooperation will be undermined or even completely negated.

However, doom and gloom is not the best motivation for investment and action. Making the transition to a new world is exciting: technological innovation, different ways of looking at prosperity, shifts in economic power, new markets and new opportunities. All these developments generate economic activity and positive energy, here and in developing countries. Look at the development of mobile phones and mobile payment systems in Africa: exciting! New. And ahead of the West! There is no reason why innovations in energy or sustainable agriculture cannot take hold in Africa too.

My ambition is to position the Netherlands internationally as an example of public, private and NGO cooperation in climate finance. We call this the Dutch Diamond Approach: effective cooperation between the private sector, government, NGOs and knowledge institutions. And that is exactly what we need here.

A global transition to a sustainable economy will require enormous investments. I would like to see Dutch companies to seize the opportunities that arise. Last year over 200 billion US dollars was invested globally in renewable energy, and investments are expected to increase quickly. The development of water works, innovation in agriculture and the demand for building materials will generate economic activity, too. In the developed world and the developing world alike.

There are business opportunities in supplying electricity and heating to the rural poor. They often pay four times the price we do, because they depend on diesel-generated power. There is money to be made in sustainable agriculture and creating markets for these products in Africa. Cooperation on water management can also generate orders for our companies and so on.

In other words: there are huge opportunities here to both do well and do good. But I also see that these new opportunities are not always straightforward. Sometimes the technologies are still at an early stage of development and therefore expensive. Sometimes the markets are new and undeveloped. Sometimes there are high economic or political risks. In one way or another, all of these elements translate into risk. This is where the state has a special role to play. My pledge is to use the resources we have available – financial, technical and political – to identify and overcome barriers to rapid, large-scale innovation.

One way to reduce risk is to learn more about local circumstances. For example, this year we screened the development programmes in our partner countries for climate relevance. Kadi Warner of WRI was a great help to us. It is crucial that we achieve a better understanding of the needs of our partners. I want to expand this to include private sector activity, so we can advise on how best to connect with local needs and circumstances.  

Another way to overcome risk is to work in partnerships. Later today we will launch the IUCN Dutch Agriculture Water and Climate Alliance. The Alliance will take a unique new approach, uniting companies, governments and NGOs to support business cases that counter the causes and impacts of climate change. Where possible, the alliance will look for ecosystem functions to provide solutions that address climate-change risks and opportunities. I am really enthusiastic about this idea of connecting company interests to their surroundings, and creating benefits for communities.

I also want to carry our approach to the international level. I was recently made co-chair of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation. The Global Partnership is looking for ways to incorporate the innovative and financial power of the private sector into the international agenda for development. We support the Worldconnectors for example, who work with the Dutch private sector to show companies how they can contribute to UN goals, like those on energy.

In this seminar today you have generated and voted for ideas to mobilise more finance through better cooperation between government, NGOs and the private sector. I want to express my sincere appreciation to all the organisations that have devoted time and effort to competing for the popular vote today. It shows that there are plenty of ideas floating around. We should bring these ideas to the table internationally, wherever possible. Our participation in the Innovation Lab is a way of doing just that. Nanno Kleiterp of FMO, who represents me there, might be able to help. No let me refrase that. He is going to help, am I right Nanno?

The challenges that climate change poses are urgent. Talking is not enough. We really have to take action. We support the climate negotiations in the UN, but we want to move forward. We cannot afford to wait. We need to mobilise more. Mobilise more finance, more initiatives, more good ideas, more knowledge, more inspiration and more cooperation that will result in climate-smart innovations. We need ambition todat in The Hague and in Paris. For that we need a positive agenda for action and investment in exciting sectors. We need to work together across the lines of public and private, rich and poor. I am confident that today’s seminar is a step in that direction. I look forward to continuing this journey with you. To finding ways to deal with climate change in developing countries. Because we will all be out of business if we do not act, and there will be a lot of business if we do. Be a leader. Together we can make a difference.

Thank you.