New York, NY (BBN) – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged investors to lend their support to sustainable development initiatives to deal with climate change and provide efficient energy solutions around the world.
“In these times of austerity and economic uncertainty, public sector efforts alone will not be sufficient,” Mr. Ban said in his message on Thursday to participants at the Investor Summit in New York. “Limited public sector resources will need to leverage much larger pools of private sector financing and know-how.”
In his remarks, delivered on his behalf by Assistant Secretary-General for Strategic Planning Robert Orr, Mr. Ban stressed that partnerships with the private sector can make a “crucial difference” in development projects, and encouraged investors to take part in the UN Sustainable Development Conference (Rio+20), which will be held in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro in June.
Mr. Ban also invited investors to take part in the high-level group he set up in November for his Sustainable Energy for All initiative, which seeks to ensure universal access to modern energy services, double the rate of improvement in energy efficiency and double the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix, all by 2030.
“We need everyone at the table – investors, CEOs [Chief Executive Officers], governments, civil society groups, technical experts and practitioners – working in common cause,” Mr. Ban added.
BBN/SSR/AD-13Jan12-6:58 pm (BST)
