30 October 2008: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon held a
meeting in New Delhi, India, with leading Indian business leaders and Rajendra
Pachauri, Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Director-
General of TERI, to discuss the corporate initiatives undertaken by the TERI
Business Council to reduce the impact of climate change.

The Secretary-General
highlighted the key role played by the private sector in tackling climate
change, which he called the “defining challenge of our era,” as well as in
devising solutions, including the search for clean energy sources. In this
context, he called on businesses to share their experience and suggestions in
the upcoming climate negotiation process. He noted that many are already
showing leadership in the search for renewables and joined the UN’s “Caring for
Climate” initiative, which focuses on business solutions to global warming and
action on climate change. Ban mentioned the encouraging results of recent “Cool
UN” initiative, whereby thermostats were raise by 2º Centigrade at the UN
Headquarters in New York, US, during the summer.
He underscored the importance
of disseminating clean technologies, noting the “clear understanding” that
developed countries should do more to accelerate their transfer of technology
to developing countries, and to operationalize the Adaptation Fund. He
concluded by stressing that “all countries are looking to India,” who will be
one of the few countries to play a decisive role in “helping to agree to a
universal, overall” successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol by next year. He
added that the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities “should
be the basis of our negotiations.”
Ban also spoke at the Rajiv Gandhi
Foundation, and commended India’s efforts to address climate change,
underlining the country’s well-established tradition of innovation and
industrial capacity. [UN
Press Release] [UN
Secretary-General’s Statement]