Secretary-General's message to opening session of Investor Summit for Climate Risk

I send my warm welcome to all participants in the 2008 Investor Summit on Climate Risk. The UN is proud to be associated with this important dialogue, and we are excited to be your partners in addressing climate change. You, after all, are a group focused on delivery, not just promises. At the last summit in 2005, participants pledged to invest one billion dollars in clean energy technologies –a target they achieved in less than a year.

You are here today because you recognize climate change as an opportunity as well as a threat. You understand that the shift to a low-carbon economy opens new revenue streams and creates new markets. You see the chance to usher in a new age of green economics and truly sustainable development. And you seek to address climate change in ways that are both affordable and promote prosperity.

For its part, the United Nations is committed to tackling climate change head-on. And I am extremely proud of what we have already achieved. Last year, the UN's Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change shared the Nobel Peace Prize for helping establish that climate change was not only occurring, but accelerating. And just last month, the UN sponsored climate talks in Bali resulted in a landmark consensus to launch negotiations on a new international climate change agreement.

Yet, despite our success, it is clear that no single Organization or any one country can win this battle on its own. Climate change is an unprecedented challenge, it requires a comprehensive and global response. It requires all of you.

The shift towards a greener future is still in its infancy and needs nurturing. The ability of the financial community to determine investment flows gives it great influence over the pace of innovation, technological change and adaptation. While the world looks to the UN to steward the negotiating process, the United Nations looks to you, as leaders in the financial sector, to lead in innovative financing and technological development.

I urge all of you to join hands with the United Nations in crafting a forceful yet flexible response to climate change. Nothing less than the future of our planet and the well-being of its people hang in the balance. I thank you for your commitment, and hope that many more will follow your example.