UN proposes new Marshall Plan to save Planet Earth

(Sept.02,2009): A United Nations report launched on Tuesday recommends a new Marshall Plan of more than $500 billion per year, to help developing countries ease the impact of global warming and adjust to its effects while continuing on a path of economic growth. “We need to drastically lower greenhouse gas emissions, in order to protect the planet and avoid dangerous temperature rises globally,” stressed Rob Vos, a Director of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA). “If we do not significantly reduce emissions, the damage to poor countries will be up to more than 10 times greater than in the United States and most other developed countries,” Vos told reporters in New York at the launch of the 2009 World Economic and Social Survey: Promoting Development, Saving the Planet. However, to satisfy development needs, energy demands will have to rise in developing countries, posing a challenge, in how to combine the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions with economic objectives, said Vos. “The transformation of energy services will be key” he added but said that this will have to go hand-in-hand with large-scale interrelated investments, in order to address simultaneously the climate change and development goals.”
“We are suggesting that we need a globally funded public investment programme to allow developing countries to engage both - in cleaner generation of energy and still meet their development objectives,” said Vos.