companies leading way towards low-carbon economy will be twenty-first century’s

 

market winners, Secretary-General tells junior chamber leadership summit

 

(Delayed in transmission.)

Following is United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message to the Junior Chamber International Leadership Summit, delivered in Geneva by Georg Kell, Executive Director of the United Nations Global Compact, on 28 July:

I am pleased to send greetings to this year’s Junior Chamber International Leadership Summit.

During my visit last month to Junior Chamber International’s World Headquarters in Chesterfield, Missouri, I was inspired to learn how your members around the world are working toward our shared goals.

I thank you for your engagement and for devoting this Summit to climate change.  This is the defining challenge of our time.  Its impacts directly threaten our water and natural resources, our food supply and international security.  The safety, prosperity, well-being and very future of humankind are at stake.

With that in mind, it is a matter of utmost urgency that Governments meeting in Copenhagen in December at the United Nations Climate Change Conference seal the deal on an ambitious, binding and effective global climate agreement with clear long-term goals and midterm targets.  I also encourage world leaders to make the most of the Climate Summit I am convening in September at United Nations Headquarters in New York.  This session can provide much-needed political impetus for success in Copenhagen.

As entrepreneurs and leaders, you have important contributions to make.  You can raise public awareness.  You can help policymakers understand that the transformation to a low-carbon economy is not only necessary, but economically viable and technologically possible.  And you can encourage your own businesses and your peers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and spread low-carbon technologies.

Many of you are already involved in the United Nations Global Compact and its business leadership platform called “Caring for Climate”.  I encourage others to join this effort.  Companies that lead the way towards a low-carbon economy will be the market winners of the twenty-first century.

I also urge you to join the United Nations’ Seal the Deal! campaign for success in Copenhagen.  We need you to mobilize your employees, partners, clients and customers to support the adoption of a global climate agreement.  Your marketing skills and advocacy can make a powerful difference.

The world needs to turn the tide on climate change.  I wish you great success at this Summit, and count on your active engagement as we tackle this and other major challenges of our day.

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For information media • not an official record