U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said Friday the current economic model is an environmental "global suicide pact" that will result in disaster if it isn't reformed.

Ban said that political and business leaders need to embrace an economic revolution in order to save the planet.

"We need a revolution," the secretary-general of the U.N. told a panel at the World Economic Forum on how best to make the global economy sustainable. "Climate change is also showing us that the old model is more than obsolete."

He called the current economic model a recipe for "national disaster" and said: "We are running out of time. Time to tackle climate change, time to ensure sustainable ... growth."

His words received a mixed reception from fellow panelists including Mexico's President Felipe Calderon, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke and Microsoft's Bill Gates.