Ceremonial Signature event of the Global Green Bond Initiative launch (GGBI)

Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen. Good evening.

This is a big evening for us and for our Global Gateway strategy. So thank you for joining.

Let me start with a stark contrast that I have learned about this summer while reading about the rise of the Artificial Intelligence.

The International Energy Agency expects data centres worldwide to consume around 950 terawatt-hours of electricity a year by 2030.

That is more electricity than the entire African continent consumes today. Home to more than 1.5 billion people.

Yet around 600 million Africans still live without electricity. Millions more remain offline.

This contrast shows the investment challenge and why scarce public resources must be used more effectively to mobilise private capital.

Many countries struggle to attract capital for sustainable infrastructure, or face prohibitive interest rates.

That is what the Global Green Bond Initiative, which we launch today, is designed to address.

So far, it has supported fifteen countries in developing green bond markets.

The Dominican Republic raised over 600 million euros with its first sovereign green bond to finance metro lines and water infrastructure.

Bogotá has launched the largest green bond ever by a city in the Americas. Ecuador and Mexico have issued their first green bonds.

Now we are moving from a promising start to full-scale deployment.

First, the Initiative's Fund is now starting to invest in green bonds issued by partner countries. Our ambition is to mobilise up to 20 billion.

Second, in exceptional cases, we will subsidise part of the coupon for issuers facing high interest rates.

Third, we will soon welcome new members into the family.

The development needs are rising. Yet the global public funds dedicated to it are decreasing.

To change this, we need to be smarter and more effective. This evening proves that we can do that.