UN Chief Calls for Global Green Growth
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon stressed Thursday (local time) that the drive for green growth sought by an increasing number of governments recently would be a durable solution to the ongoing global economic downturn.
In a speech to the ``Global Compact: Creating Sustainable Markets'' seminar, Ban urged businesses to be more responsible players fulfilling their commitments on corporate social responsibility in an era of what he called multiple crises.
His call was made during a special session on UN Global Compact at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Global business leaders, government officials, and other leaders including Park Jung-sook, a goodwill ambassador for the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), took part in the seminar.
Calling the new development strategy a ``green new deal,'' Ban stressed ``investment in sustainable technologies will turn today's crisis into tomorrow's sustainable growth.''
The UN chief called on business and government leaders to ``develop good policies and practices in the areas of human rights, the treatment of workers and the environment, and anti-corruption,'' the four core elements of the UN Global Compact, a multi-stakeholder scheme at the global level.
Park, a celebrity television journalist as well as chief executive officer of social service provider Asia Treasure Network based in Seoul, told The Korea Times that the Secretary General inspired her to look for opportunities beyond grim economic reality.
``He called on global leaders to build awareness of the need for an alternative leadership that embraces differences, have accountability and trust in an effort to overcome the grim economic and environmental challenges facing us today,'' she said.
``I basically agree with Ban. He has provided participants with an alternative interpretation of the two major challenges of climate change and the global economic downturn facing the world,'' said Park who attended the forum as a KOICA delegate.
Park said the seminar reminded her of the significant role that aid agencies such as KOICA can play in setting global best practices in place.
``I felt that as the 13th largest economy in the world, Korea needs to do a lot more than what we had done so far in aid assistance to the Third World,'' she said, adding her support for the global campaign.
The UN Global Compact is an initiative, spearheaded by former UN Secretary General Kofi Anan, for bolstering good practices in corporate social responsibility worldwide with 10 principles in the areas of human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption.
So far, 600 business participants in more than 130 countries have joined the global campaign.