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When Laurent Fabius (French Foreign Minister and COP21 President) brought down that tiny green gavel on December 12, 2015, I understood for the first time in my life what people feel when they are standing in the stadium, about to watch their team win a huge championship. I am no sports fan but in that moment, as the people around me on the floor of the convention centre hall at Le Bourget cheered and embraced each other, I got it. But there was one difference. There was not one team winning in Paris. The entire world won.Today, the urgent need for the transition to a low-carbon economy and society is recognised everywhere. The Paris Agreement that the European Union has just ratified is the most obvious proof. It has been said many times that the global fight against climate change is not only a challenge but also an opportunity. Let me repeat why it is an opportunity because it is important to recall why it is worth addressing the challenge. First of all, the energy transition will protect our climate, keep global warming within bearable limits and help to reduce its negative consequences. This is a benefit that we must not forget in our daily discussions and negotiations: the cost and the consequences of not acting are much worse than any consequence of the energy transition. Second, we have all the instruments to achieve our reduction targets for greenhouse gas emissions. We have the technologies and the innovations which will help us make this happen. Technology and innovation are key to manage this transition.You might have heard the figure before, but I want to repeat it: in Europe, we have managed to decouple growth and GHG emissions: our economy grew by 46 per cent since 1990 while we reduced our greenhouse gas emissions by 24 per cent. This is the proof that growth and energy transition are not conflicting objectives, but can go hand in hand!Just think of renewable energy sources; wind and solar energy were barely present a decade ago; today they account for at least 300,000 direct and indirect jobs in the wind sector and 250,000 jobs in the photo voltaic sector in our 28 Member States.Take new technologies in the area of storage: European and American companies start to sell home batteries, which store energy from solar panels on the roof or when energy prices are low. We will achieve industrial solutions for large-scale storage, be it more powerful batteries, hydrogen, power to gas or maybe other technologies.Digitisation can make our energy and transport systems more efficient and comfortable; the electrification of transport makes enormous progress; technologies break the boundaries between the sectors of energy, transport, buildings and industry. And we have technologies which make our industry one of the least carbon and resource intensive in the world. Moreover, the global trend after Paris offers new global opportunities for innovative products and ideas from Europe, and consequently for our workforce in Europe.“TECHNOLOGIES BREAK THE BOUNDARIES BETWEEN THE SECTORS OF ENERGY, TRANSPORT, BUILDINGS AND INDUSTRY”MAROŠ ŠEFCOVIC, VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION (EC) IN CHARGE OF ENERGY UNIONENERGY TRANSITION WILL PROTECT OUR CLIMATE030 THE G20 MEMBER COUNTRIES