Statement by Vivianne Heijnen, Minister for the Environment of the Netherlands, at the Ministerial Meeting of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition
First the minister thanked co-chairs Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry and Minister Kwaku Afriyie for organising the meeting of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) at COP27. In her statement, the minister stressed the importance of a circular economy, Minister Heijnen: ‘In the Netherlands, we’re taking robust action to harness the benefits of circularity. Our government-wide programme for a circular economy outlines how we can transform our economy into a sustainable, fully circular one by 2050.’ She also said that the Netherlands ‘aims to continue providing financial support to the Trust Fund in 2023, as we did in previous years.’
Colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,
First I’d like to thank our co-chairs Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry and Minister Kwaku Afriyie (fonetische uitspraak: kwè koe afr i je) for organising this meeting at COP27.
Every day, we’re confronted with more painful evidence of why we need to rapidly reduce the emissions that cause climate change and air pollution. Threatening the health and safety of us all.
That’s the bad news. But the good news is that we’ve already come up with solutions.
One of the solutions for a climate-neutral world is the transition to a circular economy. This is absolutely essential. Especially if we want to tackle all three of the planetary crises – climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.
A circular economy reduces unnecessary production and reduces methane-emitting landfill, among other things. It’s an economy in which we refuse, refurbish, reuse and recycle our goods. So that ultimately nothing at all is wasted. Going circular mitigates harmful emissions. Currently, less than 10 per cent of the global economy is circular. One thing is clear: a circular economy is our trump card for achieving the Paris climate goals.
In the Netherlands, we’re taking robust action to harness the benefits of circularity. Our government-wide programme for a circular economy outlines how we can transform our economy into a sustainable, fully circular one by 2050.
Together with other stakeholders, including businesses, we’ve formulated shorter-term circularity goals for specific key sectors.
My country is committed to sharing this kind of information with other coalition members, as well as learning from our partners in order to fast-track the much needed solutions for combating climate change and pollution.
To conclude: the Netherlands has been an enthusiastic partner of this coalition for several years now. We realise that the work of the CCAC is now more important than ever. So we aim to continue providing financial support to the Trust Fund in 2023, as we did in previous years.
Thank you.