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.