Taking action on climate change & poverty
Paul took part in the Changing the Climate for Growth and Development session on Friday January 24 alongside Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary General of the UN, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, former Vice President of the US Al Gore and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, among others.
The panel discussed the agenda for tackling extreme poverty through the next stage of the Millennium Development Goals and making long awaited progress on the framework for climate change.
Paul underlined the need to work in partnerships between governments, businesses and civil society to drive positive change and end extreme poverty within our lifetime while also safeguarding the planet for future generations.
He said: “We have an opportunity to eradicate poverty in a sustainable and equitable way. Don’t you want to be part of it? I haven’t met a business person who doesn’t want to be a part of that either.”
The session precedes an unprecedented international effort to energise leaders to successfully negotiate a climate change agreement and set new goals for ending extreme poverty globally during the UN General Assembly in September.
Paul said: “The issues are integrally linked. We should stop seeing them as a problem and instead see them more and more as an opportunity. Business... wants to take action. We have a unique opportunity now with the SDGs (the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals) and the climate change negotiations coming together to rally the business community to share the project.”