Speaking on the subject of “Sustainable Economy” during a visit to the US, Environment Secretary Hilary Benn today warned that we are facing a “crisis of sustainability.”

“The most glaring threat is that of dangerous climate change,” Benn said in his address at the Woodrow Wilson Centre. “But it is not the only example of the problems we create when we exploit the world’s resources unsustainably. These threats are real, they are immediate, and they will affect us all. Environmental degradation is putting an increasing strain on our natural resources, and it is both a cause and an effect of climate change.”

This coming December’s international meeting in Copenhagen to draft a new global treaty on climate change, Benn said, will be “the most important gathering in human history.”

“(A)n agreement on cutting emissions would be the biggest single step we could take to safeguard these resources,” he said. “And yet even such an agreement will not — indeed cannot — encompass all of the things we need to do to safeguard our environment. And the most difficult task we face is to reconcile reducing emissions with reducing poverty — in other words the need for more development.”

During stops in New York City and Washington, DC, Benn spoke with UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack about climate change adaptation, food security and the green economy.

“We need to help build the green economy of tomorrow as we respond to the economic crisis of today,” Benn said. “Our goal must be to make every building energy efficient, all our transport sustainable, all our energy clean or renewable, and all our agriculture sustainable and productive.”

He added, “(Also), and the reason I am here, is that we need America to apply all of its great energy to the task we, together, face. And we need you to lead. President Obama’s commitment on climate change is the best hope we have of an agreement in Copenhagen. At the UNEP meeting in Kenya in February, nine years of failure to deal with mercury were transformed by America’s new direction. And the 2010 UN Biodiversity Conference will need you, too.”

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