As delivered (as video message)

Dear colleagues, dear friends,

This year, electricity based on renewables is set to overtake electricity based on coal globally. – Quite amazing.

In 2026, solar and wind are likely to surpass nuclear power. And by the end of the decade, solar and wind will both overtake hydropower and become the largest and second largest source of renewable power globally. – So, change is coming.

The global energy system is transforming. And this transformation is so profound that we sometimes fail to recognise and grasp it.

The reality is that the green transition is underway. – Twice as much was invested in clean energy as in fossil fuels globally last year.

In my country, if we look back at our history; when electricity first came to Norway in the 1870s, it was labelled a “modern miracle”. The opportunities it offered was so overwhelming that newspapers chose to describe it in theological terms. Electricity thoroughly changed the nature of domestic work, thanks to electric boilers, cooking devices and irons.

And electrification paved the way for industrialisation.

In 1910, the world’s then largest hydropower station was built at Vemork, Norway – in a small town with around 2 000 inhabitants. Vemork and the many other powerplants that were built in the following decades, laid the foundation for energy-intensive industry in my country.

In many ways, it laid the foundation for modern Norway – for growth, jobs, welfare and opportunity.

Friends,

Last year, the world exceeded the 1.5°C threshold for the first time. The consequences are felt and seen everywhere.

We have to cut global emissions.

We have to transition away from fossil fuels – as the world agreed at COP28 in Dubai. And that is why we are together at GEAPP.

The good news is that this transition is also very powerful and brings a lot of economic benefits:

New jobs. New industries. Lower energy costs. Better environment.

And for millions of people: access to the “modern miracles” that came with electrification.

But we have to work steadfast to get there.

Dear friends,

Today’s meeting is about grasping the opportunity that the clean energy transition represents.

It’s not simply happening; we want to assist and guide it by policy.

It’s about doing development with less public finance available.

It’s about job creation, economic growth and livelihoods.

And it’s about growing the tent, and building novel partnerships that can drive collective efforts like we have done over the last year – here, together – with “Mission 300”. 

So, let me end by saying that my country Norway is fully committed to this agenda. I am, as Prime Minister, fully committed to this agenda.

We will continue to invest in clean energy in developing countries. And we will do it together with partners. – Many of you sitting around the tables today.

So, I wish you a productive and engaging discussion, and I look really forward to hearing your conclusions from these discussions.

Thank you – and the best of luck.