(image source: Innercitypress.com)

United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development Jomo Kwame Sundaram said the international community needs a “big push” effort to address climate change, during a speech in 016 Robertson Hall Monday evening.

“Rather than see [climate change] as a problem that should be solved incrementally and gradually, what is really needed is a ‘big push’ effort,” Sundaram said. “This would allow us to address a number of challenges early on and make significant savings in the long run.”

Sundaram said that this move would involve a greater initial investment burden in the near term, but the returns would be significant. He estimated that it would involve $2 trillion over the next two decades, but would save $40 trillion down the line.

Sundaram said that this plan is feasible and should be implemented with official development assistance, carbon credits from developing to developed countries, international taxes, a reallocation of existing spending and global feed-in tariffs. To keep developing countries in the conversation, Sundaram suggested adding a promise of energy subsidies.

Read more at Woodrow Wilson School news.