Thursday March 19, 06:16 PM
Green investment solution to global crisis
NAIROBI (AFP) - Investing one percent of global output into five key sectors could achieve a "Green New Deal" and drive the world's recovery from the financial crisis, the United Nations said Thursday.
In a policy brief launched ahead of next month's crucial G20 meeting in London, the UN's environment programme (UNEP) said 750 billion dollars of green investments could cure the world's ailing economy.
"The report fleshes out the multiple economic, environmental and social benefits of investing a significant amount of the three trillion dollars worth of stimulus packages in five areas," UNEP said in a statement.
The keys sectors are energy efficiency in buildings, renewable energies such as wind and solar, sustainable transport such as hybrid vehicles and high-speed rail, protection of ecological infrastructure such as freshwaters and forests, and sustainable agriculture.
"The G20 meeting needs to be a milestone in terms of focusing investments that address the crises of today and those emerging from climate change, natural resource scarcity and lack of decent employment for close to two billion unemployed or underemployed people over the coming decade," UNEP executive director Achim Steiner said.
Steiner, who is also UN under secretary-general, cited the example of energy use in buildings, arguing it could be cut by 80 percent using existing technologies.
He said additional investments in the sector had the potential to reinvigorate the industry and create 3.5 million "green jobs" in the United States and Europe alone.
In what it has termed the great recession, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Thursday that the global economy could shrink in 2009 for the first time in 60 years.
As countries launch billion-dollar packages to rescue their economies, Steiner said the time was ideal to operate a shift towards a greener global economy.
"The large scale stimulus investments planned over the coming months and the next two to four years represent a once in a life time opportunity to make a transition to a low carbon, resource efficient society -- this opportunity must not be lost," he said.
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