Hollande, leaders calls for investments in the green economy

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Climate change and poverty took center stage Friday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where political and financial leaders began campaigning in earnest for twin global accords aimed at cooling the planet and easing the suffering of multitudes.

French President Francois Hollande, Rwandan President Paul Kagame and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon were among the power-brokers urgently calling on nations, businesses and people to support two long-sought deals. They warned that the planet will overheat and many children will suffer unless the agreements are clinched this year.

“Future generations will judge us harshly if we fail,” Ban said.

Hollande, who will host the next crucial round of climate talks, called for “huge investment” in green technology to fight global warming and poverty. Talks are slated for December in Paris to set a legally binding climate pact focused on carbon emissions cuts from 2020.

The other set of U.N.-brokered talks is scheduled for September in New York to establish the next round of sustainable development and poverty-cutting goals through 2030.

The United Nations’ first round of development goals adopted in 2000 have significantly reduced global poverty, and the world body has led the campaign for action to combat climate change.

Kagame said the way forward depends on sidestepping “political deadlocks” to encourage more cooperation between governments, businesses and people.

“We are not making a choice between environmental protection and economic development,” he said. “We are rather looking at how we combine both.”

Half the world’s deforestation is linked to hunger, one of the reasons why climate change and poverty reduction are “different sides of the same coin,” said Unilever CEO Paul Polman, adding that falling oil prices give a unique opportunity to invest in new and cleaner technologies.

“We need competitive technology — cheap is a relative term,” Polman said. “Increasingly, we are seeing the green energy is the cheap energy.”

Hollande, leaders calls for investments in the green economy