"UNITED NATIONS -- U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a 'green new deal' on climate change on Thursday and urged for a final push in negotiations ahead of a key summit to be held in Copenhagen in December.

'We absolutely must reach an agreement to reduce greenhouse gases and help millions of families adapt to climate change -- before our time runs out,' Ban told an audience at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, according to a transcript made available at the United Nations.

Ban said that before the year is out he plans to go to the North Pole, as well as to regions where drought and competition for water threaten peoples' lives and well-being."

Megan Davies reports for Reuters May 21, 2009. [2]