UNITED NATIONS, July 14 (UPI) -- Delayed action in addressing climate change risks comes at a financial cost to the international community, the U.N. secretary-general said.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon following a meeting with this top climate change delegates at the United Nations said that mobilizing the financing to address climate change was an urgent need.
"The more we delay, the more we will pay in lost opportunities, resources and lives," Ban told reporters.
The world community at a December climate change conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, agreed to address emission levels and provide funding for developing nations to tackle climate-related burdens.
"Climate financing is an investment in a safer, cleaner, more prosperous future for us all," said Ban.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, the co-chairman of a working group on climate change, said he was drafting a "very robust" report for Ban that should be ready by October.
The working group is preparing its report ahead of a climate change conference in Mexico in 2011.
