Secretary-General Highlights Climate Change as Key Threat

13 June 2008: Speaking at the UN Association-UK in London, United Kingdom, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon gave a speech entitled “Securing the Common Good: The United Nations and the Expanding Global Agenda.”

In his address, he focused on the UN’s role in addressing four primary global threats: climate change; global health; counter-terrorism; and disarmament. On climate change, he said he, “consider[s it] the defining challenge of our age.” He went on to highlight the lessons he drew from a trip to Antarctica, saying that, “I am determined to get the UN and our member states to step up action to meeting this immense challenge…whatever the costs of tackling climate change – and they are not as much as you might think – the cost of inaction is far, far greater.” He went on to emphasize that finding solutions will require collective thinking and action. [UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's statement]