ECOSOC Meeting Considers Intersection between Green Growth, Equity and Job Creation

13 March 2012: The UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) held a special high-level meeting with the Bretton Woods institutions, the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), which highlighted the intersection between green growth, equity and job creation.

The meeting, held on 12-13 March 2012, at UN Headquarters in New York, US, addressed the theme "Coherence, coordination and cooperation in the context of Financing for Development.” The meeting included a series of short opening statements by the President of ECOSOC and the heads of relevant intergovernmental bodies and featured informal thematic debates on the following topics: promoting sustained, inclusive and equitable economic growth; job creation; productive investment and trade; and financing of sustainable development.

In his address to the meeting, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon underscored that only 100 days are left before the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20). He called for sustainable solutions for the environment, the economy and equity, and urged progress on sustainable energy, in order to ensure universal access to modern energy services, double the rate of energy efficiency improvements, and double the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix. Ban added that to "turn the tide on climate change," there is a need to reach the agreed target of US$100 billion a year in public and private funds for mitigation and adaptation.

In his speech, ECOSOC President Miloš Koterec called on governments to implement effective and coordinated policies that would "put the world economy on a path to sustained growth and development." He underlined that such sustained growth and development would require actions and policies such as: equitable and effective tax systems; enhanced access to basic financial and non-financial services by the poor; increased private sector development; and more productive investment in both physical and social infrastructure. Koterec emphasized that to take effective actions, developing countries would require the support of the international community. [UN SG Speech] [ECOSOC President's Speech] [Meeting website]