UN Secretary-General Urges EU to Complete Energy and Climate Package, Addresses Financial and Climate Crises

22 October 2008: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has addressed the climate and financial crises in a number of meetings and statements in the past two days. He has sent letters to the heads of the EU states, encouraging the EU to conclude its energy and climate package by the end of 2008, in order to provide a positive signal to the international community in its negotiations on emission reduction commitments for the post-2012 period.

He also underscored that clean industry and investment offer long-term profits and returns, offering an opportunity to simultaneously address both the financial and climate change crises, and leaving no justification for delaying action. In an address on 21 October 2008 at Harvard University, Massachusetts, US, Secretary-General Ban highlighted five challenges that concern global public goods and must be addressed by all nations: ensuring global financial stability as an intentional first step toward prosperity for all people; addressing climate change; advancing global health; countering terrorism; and ensuring non-proliferation and disarmament. On climate change, he emphasized the need to develop, by the end of next year, an agreement on post-2012 emission reduction commitments that is “universally acceptable, inclusive, balanced and ratifiable.”

He said the Poznan Climate Change Conference in December 2008 needs to end with “a strong political signal on strengthening financial and technology transfer mechanisms to help developing countries with adaptation and mitigation” as well as “a shared vision of what a new agreement will look like, including on the question of institutional architecture, as well as a concrete work plan for 2009 that will enable parties to engage in very serious negotiations without delay.”

The Secretary-General has also announced that he will meet with five eminent economists on 23 October 2008, to evaluate the impact of the global financial crisis on UN efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and on climate change. The economists are Joseph Stieglitz (Columbia University), Kenneth Rogoff (Harvard University), Dani Rodrik (Harvard University), Nancy Birdsall (Centre for Global Development), and Jeffrey Sachs (Columbia University). [Secretary-General’s Statement, Harvard University] [UN News Release, Ban’s Meeting with Economists] [UN News Release, Ban’s Message to EU Leaders]