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022 G7 MEMBER STATESSECURING THE FUTURE OF OUR PLANETLast year France suffered the worst kind of ordeal on its soil: terrorism. But it also hosted a conference that will go down in history, because it decided the future of our planet.  There are always paradoxes and contradictions. The worst is found alongside the best.After the attacks on Paris, the entire world, represented by you here, rose up in an exceptional outpouring of solidarity. In January and November, many heads of state and government came to Paris and were keen to show, yet again, the relationship that they wanted to maintain with France, by taking part in a march, on 11 January, and a conference, on 30 November.I would like to express my gratitude to your countries for their many gestures of support. These gestures touched the hearts of the French people and were a form of response, the best possible, to the terrorists’ death instinct.In December, therefore, the adoption of the global climate agreement gave us all reason to hope. The international community showed that it was capable of taking charge of its destiny and making serious, credible commitments for future generations. I would like to commend Laurent Fabius on his remarkable work to achieve this outcome.THE PARIS AGREEMENTThe hope was raised by the Paris agreement for the future of our planet. When the heads of state and government met in December, I recalled a line spoken by Gandhi, who said that we needed to concern ourselves with the world that we would not see. That is what we did at COP21: we tried to look beyond ourselves, our own personal destinies, our own lives, and find out what traces we are leaving so that future generations can be proud of us.It is an agreement that has been described as historic. And it is, undeniably, for it is the first of its kind and it brought together all the countries of the world. It is historic because we are making history, but also because it is opening the way towards a new low-carbon economy and towards renewable energy. A huge economic shift is about to take place. This success we owe to France, in that it has played its part. I would like to congratulate the whole team that supported Laurent Fabius, but we also owe this success to countries that showed resolute commitment: Peru, with which we worked in harmony and full confidence, India, which played a very constructive role, especially to ensure that climate justice was recognized (and I will be going there to launch the International Solar Alliance), the United States, and China, with which we signed a declaration that prefigured the final agreement. And China will continue mobilizing all countries on climate issues throughout its G20 presidency.I would also like to thank the heads of state and government whom I called in those last few hours, and who set out not what I would call a condition but a new proposal. An agreement was reached because it was what all heads of state and government wanted. I would like to commend them here. Finally, there is the UN and its Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, who at the General Assembly, over several General Assemblies, ensured that things were set in “ A HUGE ECONOMIC SHIFT IS ABOUT TO TAKE PLACE ”FRANÇOIS HOLLANDE, PRESIDENT, THE FRENCH REPUBLIC