Distinguished Co-Chairs,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would firstly like to thank the Secretary-General for organizing this important summit. We highly appreciate his personal commitment in raising the momentum for climate action and working towards the ambitious global climate agreement that is to be concluded next year.

Climate change is one of long-term global threats which poses many challenges but also opportunities. The Czech Republic is ready to contribute a fair share to the global climate effort and to work for the fulfilment of the collective commitments and the 2°C goal.

The Czech Republic currently meets its climate-related obligations, both at the national and international levels. At the national level, I am pleased to inform you that we have significantly surpassed our Kyoto Protocol commitment and reduced national greenhouse gas emissions by more than 33 % since 1990. I can confirm that we are ready to continue with new and additional policies and measures, in order to meet our mitigation commitment under the EU climate and energy package by 2020 and also by 2030. As an example of successful national policies, I would mention the preparation of our new adaptation strategy to tackle floods and other extreme events and support for various energy saving programmes.

At the international level, the Czech Republic works actively both within the EU and the UNFCCC and is ready to support proposals and solutions offering effective ways to reach the new global climate agreement. The new agreement needs to include meaningful mitigation and adaptation action and contribution by all parties to the Convention in order to keep the global goals within reach. Speaking of global action, there is also the need to highlight some specific actions that might help to tackle growing greenhouse gas emissions - for example, the World Bank’s “Putting a Price on Carbon” initiative which is supported by my country.

Climate finance will be another issue crucial to the success of the international climate negotiations in Paris. We need the means to achieve the 2 degree goal and shift global development towards a low-emission and climate resilient path. The Czech Republic has continuously provided climate finance support to developing countries through bilateral as well as multilateral channels. Despite the difficult economic situation, the Czech Republic surpassed its Fast Start Finance commitment by providing 12.6 million EUR to developing countries in the period 2010 – 2012.

In 2013 we provided almost 4.3 million EUR to developing countries such as Vietnam, Mongolia, Ethiopia, Cambodia or Yemen for implementation of mitigation and adaptation projects through our bilateral and multilateral cooperation and we plan to increase our overall climate finance support in the coming years, taking into account our national circumstances. In this regard, it is my pleasure to announce that the Czech Republic is ready to contribute 5.5 million USD to the Green Climate Fund over the next two years. We also plan to join the German initiative called “Climate Finance Readiness Programme” and provide additional 2 million USD to help developing countries build their own capacities so that they can successfully apply for support from the Green Climate Fund in the coming years.

Finally, we look forward to build on the momentum of this summit and work with our partners both in the framework of UNFCCC, as well as making climate change part of the post-2015 development agenda.

Thank you.