UN Secretary-General: Financial Crisis Should Not “Weaken our Resolve on Climate Change”

24 October 2008: During a UN System Chief Executives Board

Meeting, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed the need to support the poor

amid the global financial crisis, warning that gains made towards achieving the

Millennium Development Goals could be reversed. The meeting brought together

Executive Heads of the UN specialized agencies, funds and programmes and the

World Bank and International Monetary Fund to undertake a wide-ranging

assessment of the ongoing global crisis in financial markets and the threat of

recession in the global economy.

Ban underlined that the crisis should not

“weaken our resolve on climate change,” which he called the “defining challenge

of our era,” and urged the Poznan Climate Change Conference in December 2008 to

lead to “a successful climate change agreement in Copenhagen.” In a joint

statement issued at the close of the meeting, the officials emphasized the UN

system's unique role in addressing global issues and stressed the need to

maintain the momentum generated to achieve an international agreement on

climate change, and to strengthen efforts in mitigation, adaptation and

technology transfer. [UN Press Release] [UN Secretary-General's Statement] [Joint Statement]