UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Sunday urged leaders of the Group of 20 (G20) to scale up investment in clean energy and green economy as part of the effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
– The risks – and costs – of inaction on climate change grow each year. The more we delay, the more we will pay, the Secretary-General told leaders of the G20 industrialized and developing economies at a working luncheon Sunday in Toronto, Canada.
Mr. Ban has been participating in the two-day meeting to try to keep the world leaders’ focus on promotion of development in poor countries, despite the global economic slowdown.
In his speech, he urged the G20 members to publicly recognize the progress made last December at the UN climate change talks in Copenhagen, Denmark, and to move forward within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
– We should achieve a meaningful, realistic result at the summit to be hosted later this year in Cancun by Mexican President Felipe Calderon, Mr. Ban said.
He also urged Governments to make concrete progress towards realizing the pledge made in Copenhagen for industrialized countries to deliver $100 billion (ca. 600 milliarder kr.) per year in aid to developing countries for mitigating climate change.
