U.N. Calls For ‘Green New Deal’

The United Nations is urging a transformation of the world’s sluggish economy through investment in green innovation and natural resources, a type of “Green New Deal” that leaders hope will also curb climate change and bolster the world’s food supply. A U.N. Environment Programme official said the current global crises require an approach similar to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s response to the Great Depression, according to a report in the Guardian. “Transformative ideas need to be discussed and transformative decisions taken,” said Achim Steiner, the UNEP’s executive director. “The alternative is more boom and bust cycles; a climate-stressed world and a collapse of fish stocks and fertile soils up to forest ecosystems.” The organization focused on five areas of concentration: clean energy and new technologies; rural energy; sustainable agriculture; ecosystem infrastructure and reduced emissions from deforestation; and sustainable cities. U.N. leaders have called for action on this “Green Economy Initiative” when finance ministers meet in New York next month.