UN Private Sector Forum - UN Global Compact

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for giving me the floor at such an important event.

I arrived in New York yesterday from Prague. This summer was our second hottest since records began in 1775, and the drought was worse than anyone there can remember. Across Europe it was the same story — a stark reminder of how pressing the climate challenge has become.

It kills people, destroys crops, and threatens whole communities. It hits hardest in cities, where the heat-island effect adds two degrees or more.

That matters because more and more people live in cities. In Africa alone, the urban population will double to 1.4 billion by 2050.

At the same time, demand for energy is rising fast - for homes, factories, electric vehicles, and cooling in summer. Artificial intelligence will add even more to that demand.

So the challenge is clear. We must build more to power more, and we must do it sustainably.

In Europe, we invest in clean energy together with our cities through more than a hundred community energy projects.

This is also the philosophy behind Global Gateway. We do not see the private sector simply as a source of additional financing. We see businesses as partners in identifying what works, where the obstacles are, and how good projects can become bankable investments.

That is why we created the Global Gateway Business Advisory Group. Like this Forum at global level, it gives business a structured place at the table. It brings together companies, business associations and financial institutions to help us shape and implement Global Gateway, bringing the experience of those who ultimately build the grids, deploy the technology, create the jobs and invest for the long term.

Because when public institutions and businesses bring their respective strengths together, we can move from identifying global challenges to delivering practical solutions.