Opening Speech by the 8th UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the BROAD Holon Techonology Conference
Mr. Zhang Yue, Chairman of the Broad Group,
Distinguished guests, Ladies and gentlemen,
Let me first express my heartfelt congratulations for the opening of the "BROAD Holon Building Global Conference."
It is my great pleasure to be invited to this very meaningful event and deliver a key note speech. I thank you, Chairman Zhang for inviting me to this occasion today. I am convinced that this conference will bring about fruitful outcome.
The Broad Group has made a great progress in developing a new and very creative idea for Holon Building since its inception in 2009. I believe that the idea will prevail in the future as it fits the era of carbon net zero.
I admire Chairman Zhang for his remarkable spirit of continuous challenges and making something good for humanity. It is unbelievable technology to build eleven storeys building in a day.
I am very much impressed not only by the speed of constructing building but also by the fact that the building is energy efficient and holds one thousand years of service life.
During my tenure as Secretary General of the UN, I have passionately devoted myself to sustainable development and climate change agenda for human beings. I am proud of the unanimous adoption of the "Sustainable Development Goals" resolution at the UN and also the "Paris Climate Accord" in 2015.
It was not easy to achieve those two global agreements. I had to face up to so many challenges and difficult moments in the path to the success.
In this regard, I sincerely appreciate the support of the Government of China for my initiatives and her contributions to forming consensus for the agreements. In particular, I recalled the historic moment when President Xi Jinping of China hosted the G20 summit meeting in Hangzhou in September 2016.
I characterize the Hangzhou G20 summit as historic, because there was a ceremony which represented a big start for the entry into force of the paris Accord.
During the summit meeting President Xi invited me and also President Barak Obama of the US to the ceremony where they delivered their instruments of ratification of the Paris Climate Accord to me.
I thought it was a clear message of President Xi to lead the world in the fight against climate change.
The ceremony undoubtedly encouraged the European Union to ratify the Accord in November of the same year and finally the Paris Accord began to breathe to life.
China also has made a significant contributions to implementing the Sustainable Development Goals adopted in 2015 at the UN.
China took the agenda of sustainable development at the Hangzhou G20 summit to boost up the will of the international community in achieving the goals of the sustainable development agenda.
In fact, China has made a remarkable stride in overcoming poverty and hunger. Now, China is leading the world with its sophisticated high-tech like the Holon Building of the Broad Group.
The Broad Group developed a new business model which is consistent with the vision of President Xi for carbon net-zero.
I know that Chairman Zhang is interested in environment protection and education of climate change for the young generation.
The Holon Building of the Broad Group set its target of one thousand years of building and has been achieving it.
It is closely related to the goal no. 11 of the sustainable development goals of the UN which is "sustainable cities and communities".
Chairman Zhang highlighted the importance of the traditional culture and values of Asia and China in educating the climate change and environment protection for the students.
Education of the environment protection is also related to the goal no. 12 of the sustainable development goals of the UN which is "responsible consumption and production".
BKM Foundation, located in Seoul pursues carbon net-zero, energy efficiency, green growth and education for the young generation.
The Foundation and the Broad Group have many things in common in this vein. I will cooperate with the Broad Group for the realization of my objectives. We can make a joint effort to get a common success.
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
Currently, all humanity is undergoing unprecedented suffering from the Corona pandemic.
The numbers of the infected amounts to one hundred eighty million with 4 million casualties throughout the world.
Human beings had never experienced such a lethal disease as Corona virus since the Spanish flew in 1918.
The optimistic prospect of no mask and returning to normalcy emerged as vaccinations got underway in many countries.
However, the optimism was crushed by fast and wide spreading mutations of the virus.
We cannot foresee the time when this dismal reality ends. One thing I can say for sure is that this kind of tragedy will visit again any time soon even-though the corona virus can be overcome.
Therefore, I strongly believe that we should address the root cause of the problem, not the phenomena.
What is the root cause of this happening then? I say, that is the climate change which was caused by greedy human behaviour.
I am certain that there is no other solution to the problem of climate change than carbon net zero.
Time is not on our side.
I have seen the diminishing polar ice caps from my eye sight. Sea level is rising rapidly. It would be a death note to the pacific islands countries and other sea shore cities.
Recently Canada and the US are under house arrest of unheard heat dome and it left numerous numbers of loss of life. We, living in Korea, are also affected by the same heat dome these days.
Major carbon emitting countries such as the US, China, Japan, Korea and other European counties announced their target year of 2050 or 2060 for carbon net zero.
They have to keep their promises. There will be no exception or excuses. The future of our next generation is solely dependent on the complete implementation of the promises.
When I was leading the UN, I repeatedly said that we cannot negotiate with the nature. We can only listen to the warnings from the nature and seriously respond to them.
In this regard, it is meaningful and significant for the Broad Group to convene this Conference to promote energy efficiency and sustainability of buildings, which will eventually address the problem of climate change.
Finally, I congratulate Chairman Zhang for this global conference and commend his leadership and vision for the future of our humanity and planet together.
I wish you all the best in your noble endeavors and continued good health in this difficult time of corona virus.
hope, sooner or later, this pandemic is over and time comes for me to visit China again.
Thank you for your attention.
