SECRETARY-GENERAL, IN VIDEO MESSAGE TO CALIFORNIA SUSTAINABILITY SUMMIT, CALLS

FOR MORE POLITICAL COURAGE, ECONOMIC ENLIGHTENMENT IN EMBRACING GREEN GROWTH

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s video message to the Sustainability Summit organized by the Los Angeles Business Council today, 13 November:

Thank you for inviting me to address this timely and important Sustainability Summit.

The global landscape is dramatically different from what it was when I last came to California and met Governor [Arnold] Schwarzenegger, and learned about the work of some of your cutting-edge corporations.

The fuel and food crises have been followed by the global financial crisis and credit crunch.  We also face an unfolding carbon crunch and climate change crisis.  And humankind continues its relentless assault on forests, biodiversity, water and soil -- a “nature crunch” in the making.

We need to be more creative in our efforts to change course.  We need to be more politically courageous and more economically enlightened.  And we must seize an opportunity that is right at our fingertips: the path of green growth.

In California, you have been helping the green economy to take shape for many years now.  Since the 1970s, ambitious standards for buildings and home appliances have cut electricity use and saved Californians an estimated $56 billion while generating about 1.5 million jobs.

Your plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 could generate more than 400,000 new jobs.  This is real leadership towards much needed domestic legislation on climate change at the federal level.

At a time when the global economy is sputtering, we need growth.  At a time when unemployment in many nations is rising, we need new jobs.  Only sustainable development offers rich and poor countries alike an enduring prospect of long-term social well-being and prosperity.  The world is awakening to this reality.   But we need to do more.

Amid the pressures of the global financial crisis, some ask how we can afford to invest in green growth and tackle climate change. The better question is: how can we afford not to?

In only a few weeks, nations meet in Poland for the next round of United Nations climate convention negotiations.  California’s achievements underline the opportunities of making a transition to a low-carbon economy.  I hope your efforts will strengthen international resolve.

I thank you for your commitment to this mission.  We at the United Nations look forward to working with you to place all our societies on a sustainable path.

Thank you very much.

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For information media • not an official record