U.N. calls for 'Global Green New Deal' to boost world economy

The United Nations says countries must enable trillions of dollars in public sector investments to help reboot the global economy and counter climate change

GENEVA, Switzerland – The world must dramatically rethink its economic model in order to tackle growing environmental stress, inequality, and development challenges, the United Nations (UN) said Wednesday, September 25, calling for a "Global Green New Deal."

In a fresh report, the UN trade, investment, and development agency (UNCTAD) called for countries to join forces and enable trillions of dollars in public sector investments to help reboot the global economy and counter climate change.

"Under the current configuration of policies, rules, market dynamics, and corporate power, economic gaps are likely to increase and environmental degradation intensify," warned Richard Kozul-Wright, head of UNCTAD's globalization and development strategies division.

What is needed, he told journalists, is to apply the same ambitious model used in the United States to overcome the Great Depression in the 1930s and apply it "at a global scale."