This conference is about the world you will inherit. And your generation must look after it, better than mine has. The task before us is enormous. If we are to bring greenhouse gas emissions down to a sustainable level, we need to make radical changes in the world economy, and in the way we all live. Second, help chart a new path of development.
All peoples have an equal right to development.
But measures to reduce global warming in industrialized countries will be in vain if, meanwhile, developing countries are following the same wasteful and noxious pattern of industrialization. And thirdly, you must give a convincing signal to the private sector, that reducing greenhouse gas emissions will pay. Once businessmen and women are convinced of that, we can rely on them to come up with new, eco-friendly technologies, which will in turn generate jobs and other opportunities. Until now, corporations have profited by polluting the environment. In future, we must make sure they have an incentive to clean it up.