ATHENS, June 24 investments in a greener economy are lagging behind even if they were successful and in poor nations.
The G -20 summit from this weekend is an opportunity to improve the situation.
Green spending gives "a very real return for people and economies, north and south," Achim Steiner told Reuters. He said the world has spent about 500 billion dollars so far for green economy - from railways to solar energy - to stimulate the global economy fell, in value over 3000 billion dollars.
In 2008, UNEP has requested $ 750 billion, or 1 percent of gross domestic product dedicated to a Global Green New Deal to find a way to pollute less.
"The G-20 particularly has huge potential in energy, mobility, buildings, agriculture, forestry, water," Mr. Steiner said ahead of the G-20 summit in Toronto this weekend. "The G-20 has to be seen to be active."
"The green economy is not a luxury, but a 21st century imperative on a planet of six billion, rising to [nine] billion in just 40 years," Mr. Steiner and Pavan Sukhdev, head of UNEP's Green Economy initiative, wrote in a pre-G-20 comment.
