moving forward into the informals and intersessionals
Nis Christensen (Chief Advisor to the Minister – Head of Rio+20 Secretariat, Danish Government)
How the EU is organising for rio+20
Four key points
- EU position – it is ambitious. It is keen to build on the ambition of others. Already130 Heads of State including the Danish Prime Minister have confirmed to attend Rio and are supportive of the proposal for global green economy roadmaps – which would result in concrete action with targets energy water, land management and Eco systems resource efficiency and oceans
- Reflections on the two days – equitable green economy is paramount. The EU is focused on how to achieve this and how to put the policy thinking into action. It is also keen to go beyond short termism and integrate long termism into the process as a whole. For instance how can the discussion on ‘beyond GDP’ represent more than simply a conversation on indicators, but actually rethinking the timeframe within which the economic system currently works. The green economy debate must be broadened out to make it easier for citizens and policy makers alike to appeal to the interests of Treasuries, businesses, NGOs, and private sector and large companies. A promising proposal in the draft as it stands is the ‘global policy framework’ on corporate social responsibility, based on the report or explain principle.
Powerful notion of eliminating environmentally damaging subsidies, which builds on G20 commitments and others that Rio can achieve brings hope. It’s clear that there are lots of projects on go out there changing practice on the ground, so the question is how do we scale up all these of solutions?
- The EU is very keen to involve civil society in the process as widely as possible. The EU is keen to maximise civil society involvement all the way up to – and beyond – Rio; such as through the ‘What happens on Monday?’ conference.
- ‘What happens on Monday?’ is a question we need to ask ourselves tomorrow. A serious issue right now is that the negotiations are not picking up pace. We all need to be using all the channels we can to emphasise the responsibility on those in the room to pick up the pace and see Rio +20 for the opportunity that it really does represent.