Let me start by extending my heartfelt congratulations on your recent appointment. The United Kingdom is eager to collaborate closely with you and the Bureau throughout this session.
In recent years, we have established a bold set of objectives. However, we now face a rapidly closing window to transform these commitments into tangible outcomes. This Committee holds a vital opportunity to drive this delivery forward.
Sustainable development hinges on broadening opportunities, creating jobs, fostering growth, and enabling nations to cultivate resilient and prosperous economies. The Compromiso de Sevilla has laid down a renewed framework for financing sustainable development. Nevertheless, numerous developing countries continue to grapple with excessive borrowing costs, escalating debt burdens, and inadequate investment, which hinder their capacity to invest in their people and shape their futures.
Challenges in Resource Mobilisation
As Professor Parfait Eloundou pointed out, the challenge lies not only in mobilising resources but also in ensuring their effective utilisation. Our success will depend on aligning finance with priorities and enhancing coordination among various institutions.
The United Kingdom is committed to championing a holistic approach, strategically leveraging Official Development Assistance (ODA) alongside our expertise and innovative solutions to unlock sustainable investment opportunities. We are prepared to collaborate with partners to implement the Sevilla commitments and to establish a more equitable and inclusive global financial system.
Equally significant is the role of trade. A transparent, rules-based, and predictable trading system remains one of the most robust drivers of growth and development. The United Kingdom is dedicated to engaging constructively to ensure that the Committee’s discussions honour established mandates, reflect agreed multilateral frameworks, and concentrate on practical measures capable of achieving consensus.
Harnessing Innovation for Development
Innovation has the potential to expedite development, strengthen resilience, and create new economic prospects. We aspire for developing nations not only to benefit from emerging technologies, on mutually agreed terms, but also to actively participate in shaping their development and governance.
Climate change and biodiversity loss are increasingly contributing to instability, displacement, and economic vulnerability globally. At the same time, the transition to clean energy offers significant opportunities for growth, job creation, energy security, and economic transformation.
As we prepare for COP 31 and COP 17, our emphasis must shift towards implementation. We must accelerate our actions under the Paris Agreement and the Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, focusing on keeping the 1.5-degree target within reach, mobilising climate and biodiversity financing, halting and reversing biodiversity loss, and enhancing adaptation and resilience for the most vulnerable populations.
Commitment to Climate and Nature Goals
The United Kingdom remains steadfast in fulfilling its ambitious Nationally Determined Contribution and National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan. We urge all nations to present their plans and turn commitments into actionable steps. Within this Committee, we will advocate for the ambitious realisation of agreed climate and nature commitments.
Sustainable development is also contingent on ensuring that women and girls can fully participate in and benefit from economic growth. The United Kingdom is resolutely committed to advancing the rights and empowerment of all women and girls, including comprehensive sexual and reproductive health rights. Investing in women and girls fosters inclusive growth and enables societies to achieve their full potential.
Enhancing the Effectiveness of the United Nations
We will continue to safeguard the hard-won progress made and resist any attempts to undermine established commitments. To achieve more, the United Nations must also enhance its effectiveness. This marks the first Second Committee session since the revitalisation decision was agreed upon, which we warmly welcomed.
Revitalisation is essential because every hour spent renegotiating previously established language detracts from the time needed to advance the implementation of our existing commitments. Therefore, the United Kingdom encourages a sustained focus on agenda discipline, in line with revitalisation decisions, including avoiding resolutions on matters that have recently been negotiated elsewhere or fall outside the Committee’s core responsibilities.
As we approach 2030, our focus should be on delivery rather than duplication; on implementation instead of reinvention. By promoting investment, resilience, and reform, we can broaden opportunities, strengthen economies, and improve lives. The United Kingdom stands ready to partner with all stakeholders to make this a reality.