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]