Smart Investment in Green Growth

By Ban Ki-moon and Al Gore

Economic stimulus is the order of the day. This is as it must be, as governments around the world struggle to jump-start the global economy.

But even as leaders address the immediate need to stimulate the economy, so too must they act jointly to ensure that the new de facto economic model being developed is sustainable for the planet and our future on it.

What we need is both stimulus and long-term investments that accomplish two objectives simultaneously, with one global economic policy response ― one that addresses our urgent and immediate economic and social needs and that launches a new green global economy.

In short, we need to make ``growing green'' our mantra. First, a synchronized global recession requires a synchronized global response. We need stimulus and intense coordination of economic policy among all main economies. We must avoid the beggar-thy-neighbor policies that contributed to the Great Depression.