UN Secretary-General and US President Stress Need for Agreement on Climate Change

10 March 2009: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon held a meeting with US President Barack Obama in Washington, DC, US, during which they welcomed strong US-UN cooperation and strongly emphasized the need for an international agreement on climate change, both for environmental protection and to unlock investment for green economic recovery. They committed to pursue this objective by the end of the year at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. Speaking at a press conference after the meeting, Ban reiterated that climate change is “an issue of our era,” and called for the US' strong commitment and leadership. [UN Press Release] [Press Conference Transcript]