Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Speech at the 10th AUSTRIAN WORLD SUMMIT
Thank you to my partner, President Van der Bellen.
A conservative and a Green Party leader, together, united in our mission to terminate pollution.
For a decade now, our partnership has shown the world that clean air and clean water is not a political issue. It is a people’s issue.
Thank you to Chancellor Stocker.
Thank you to Monika Langthaler and her team.
They work their butts off all year so that we can come together and inspire the world.
And thank you to Vice President Kamala Harris.
Kamala and I come from different political parties.
But unlike a lot of politicians who think their job is attacking the opposition on social media and anywhere else that they can, we don’t let that stop us from working together.
Especially when it comes to terminating pollution. We are in total agreement.
And Vice-President, it means so much to us that you came all the way from the United States for our summit.
Thank you to all our other speakers and to the sponsors.
This year is special.
This is our tenth annual summit.
Ten years ago, we started here in Vienna with one mission: terminate pollution.
Some people said it was a crazy idea.
They said, “Leave the environmental summits to the United Nations and the world leaders.
What are you trying to inspire all of these little tiny subnational governments, academics, companies, and individuals for?”
Ten years later, here we are.
Look at who has stood on this stage.
Secretary General Guterres of the United Nations. Prime ministers. Secretaries of State.
Nobel laureates. Greta Thunberg. Jane Goodall. Astronauts. Leaders from the biggest companies in the world, like Apple and Ford.
And right alongside them — governors, mayors, students, scientists, people who run small businesses, and all of the dedicated environmentalists who have been fighting this battle for decades.
We always believed in inclusion. That everybody belongs in this fight.
Because together we are stronger.
Together, we are unstoppable.
Every year, our reach has grown.
From hundreds of millions of impressions across media and social media ten years ago, to 4 billion impressions last year.
Last year, I gave you a motivational speech.
I told you that no matter who is in the White House, we have the power to keep moving forward.
This year, as the kids say, I am bringing the receipts.
The clean energy revolution is moving forward.
It is unstoppable.
A few months ago, the Environmental Protection Agency moved to roll back pollution regulation in America.
Gone.
Their job is to protect the people from pollution, and they did the opposite.
People came up to me again. They said, “Arnold, that’s it. It’s over. The clean energy fight is finished.”
Then the Rhodium group — one of the most respected research firms in the country — ran the numbers.
They found that even after the rollback, U.S. emissions are still on track to land 26 to 35% below 2005 levels by 2035.
The Administration didn’t stop us. They tried, but we are unstoppable.
You know why?
Because most of the real work was never being done in Washington in the first place.
We have learned we can’t just rely on Washington. We have learned to keep working.
And the real work was being done by all of you.
By subnational governments. By the states. By the cities. By the businesses. By the people who got off their butts and went to work. By technology and innovation.
Look at what has happened in the world this past year.
Renewable energy now makes up almost 50% of global electricity capacity.
In 2025 alone,the world added almost 700 gigawatts.
The International Energy Agency expects another 4,600 gigawatts by 2030 — more than double the previous five years combined.
Now stay with me. Here is one I love.
In 2004, when I became governor of California, I remember when we wanted to install one gigawatt of solar power, it took us a full year.
Now in 2026, we are installing that amount of power in 15 hours.
A year. To 15 hours.
That is what unstoppable looks like.
And clean energy is doing real work.
Solar, wind, nuclear, electric cars, and heat pumps have cut roughly 3 billion tons of emissions every year since 2019.
That’s about 8% of the world’s emissions. Already done.
And what about China? The world’s largest polluter?
Last year, for the first time in a decade, their fossil power generation actually fell.
They’re installing the biggest solar plants in the world.
They’re building ten nuclear plants every year.
The world’s biggest emitter is starting to bend the curve.
Then there are the cars.
In China, almost half of new cars sold are electric!
In Norway, 96% of new cars are battery-electric.
This is what unstoppable looks like.
California continues to lead the way, no matter how much the federal government tries to fight us. We fight back — just the way we did it when I was Governor.
And the great work goes way beyond California.
Massachusetts is mandating heat pumps and bringing offshore wind online.
Uruguay – a small country – runs nearly all of its electricity on clean energy.
Like Austria.
Just smart policy and the will to lead.
And here is one that should make every fossil fuel executive nervous.
Maersk. The second-biggest freight and shipping company on Earth.
At any given time, they have over 700 giant ships delivering products all over the world.
Shipping is one of the dirtiest industries on the planet.
And Maersk is going to be net-zero by 2040 — ten years ahead of the rest of the industry.
They are building methanol-powered ships that can cut emissions by up to 90%.
Let me tell you: if the shipping industry can move to clean energy, every industry can terminate pollution.
Seventy percent of the power to reduce pollution sits at the state and local level.
Not in Washington. Not in Brussels. Not in any of those capitols.
With all of you.
You are unstoppable.
For years, the challenge of our environmental movement has been selling the people on a renewable energy future.
Today, the people get it. They want to terminate pollution.
And they have seen what happens when we rely on fossil fuels from unstable countries like Russia and Iran.
It’s not only unhealthy. It’s unreliable.
The people know the power of self-reliance.
We have seen it firsthand with cell phones.
Remember the old days when we relied on the phone companies? Now, we are free.
The people know that solar and wind and geothermal power gives them the same power that the phone in their hand gives them.
It doesn’t just make them cleaner, it makes them independent. It brings the power close to them.
It gives us true independence.
In a clean energy future, we no longer have to fear a natural disaster or a war changing the prices.
In 2026, the people want clean energy. They want dependable energy.
When you look around the world, we have all the solutions now.
All we have to do is stop talking and learn from one another and get to work.
Stop hoping, start changing.
You need a vision, you need a strategy, you need a plan, and you need a specific goal.
That’s how you create action and results. Action, action, action.
The Greeks figured this out 2,500 years ago.
Aesop tells the story of a man whose wagon gets stuck in the mud.
He drops to his knees and prays to Hercules. “Save me.”
Hercules appears and says, “Get up. Stop sprawling. Put your shoulder to the wheel.”
We have the vision, we have the plan, and now we just have to keep working our asses off and put our shoulders to the wheel.
Our job is to keep this unstoppable momentum moving forward and to bring everyone on board.
The people believe we can change.
The people are right.
We will build a clean energy future.
One city at a time. One state at a time. One university at a time. One company at a time.
One person at a time.
Let’s put our shoulders to the wheel.
Thank you very much.