Readers response: will rio+20 make a difference to sustainable development?

PAUL ABBERLEY, CHIEF EXECUTIVE AT AVIVA INVESTORS One way in which Rio+20 can definitely make a difference to sustainable development is by following through on the clause in the draft

document which commits member states to develop an international policy framework requiring companies to publish sustainability reports. The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Coalition

calls for a commitment by UN member states to develop a convention encouraging the integration of material sustainability issues within the annual report of all listed and large private

companies (on report or explain basis). The Coalition includes over fifty institutions including investors, UN agencies, professional bodies, NGO's and other highly relevant

stakeholders. Embedding an explanation of the sustainability of a company's strategy in its reporting will allow investors to better understand the associated investment risks and

opportunities, and will make it more likely that global financial markets will allocate capital in a manner better aligned with sustainable development. We will be urging strongly the

adoption of this proposal in Rio in June, and would value any additional support. CLARE COFFEY, BIOFUELS ADVISOR AT ACTIONAID Rio+20 has the potential to address the growing food/energy

crisis, which would make a tremendous contribution in the move towards true sustainable development. The diversion of food and land to energy has meant that 37 million hectares of land in

developing countries has already been lost to biofuels; food prices have risen sharply, pushing millions of people into poverty. All this so that people in the global North can continue

their energy intensive lifestyles guilt free. The situation is set to worsen significantly in response to UK/EU 2020 targets. Unfortunately, Rio+20 could also have the exact opposite effect,

undermining development and poverty reduction objectives in a very significant way. One of the main elements currently under discussion concerns sustainable energy access for all. While

this should mean poor people in developing countries have better energy supplies, the initiative looks set to be highjacked by big companies looking to export large scale energy

technologies, including biofuels, to developing countries. Overall, we expect Rio+20 to have a big impact, but the question is whether that will impact will be positive for the world's

poorest people. JIM BARTON, 2EARTHUNSUMMIT12 I had the chance in June 1989 to talk with Dr. Roger Revelle, who had gone from Harvard where he taught Al Gore, to the University of California,

San Diego. We were at the first University of California system-wide research conference on climate, and I was urging the necessity of urgent action. Older and slow moving though fully

alert, three months after his 80th birthday, he encouraged me to see the slowness of cycles. "It takes nine months to have a baby", he pointed out. "You can't hurry it up

or slow it down." I think he was trying to point out, as some who helped build the League of Nations or United Nations, that there is a collective learning curve, and it takes as long

as it does, and that some stages have to be gone through first. At the time, I thought he didn't get the crisis, didn't understand social processes. Now I wonder if he understood

both much better than I did. I do think Rio+20 will make a difference, but I think we need to combine it with habitat 2015 and the 2015 World Conference on Women as well. We need to stop

thinking of some conferences as make-or-break, and instead look at how each one can move us along further. MANISH BAPNA, INTERIM PRESIDENT, WORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTE Twenty years ago, when

heads of state converged on Rio for the first Earth Summit, the era of globalisation had just begun. Faith in the United Nations and other multilateral institutions was running high, with a

handful of big powers—one in particular—more or less calling the shots. Think how much has changed since then: A unipolar world is now multipolar. The majority of people now live in cities.

Emerging markets have taken off— and with them a vast new middle class, which by some estimates will explode to nearly five billion by 2030, with 66 percent in Asia. That's a lot of new

consumers. How will they live, eat, shop, and get to work? Will they follow the path of developed countries, or will they take a new approach and embrace sustainability? By bringing

together political leaders, civil society groups and businesses, Rio+20 provides an opportunity to jumpstart a renewed commitment toward a more sustainable planet. This won't come

easily-- and it's only possible if we're willing to acknowledge that the world has shifted profoundly since 1992. TIMOTHYNASH My expectations for government action at Rio+20 is

low, but I feel there's a huge opportunity to raise awareness among corporations and customers. Walmart's procurement policy had more impact than any government regulation, and

companies are starting to see sustainability as a competitive advantage. We need to hear these stories from Phillips, GE, IBM, and other companies that are spending billions every year in

green R&D. TRANSITIONPAUL Sustainable development aims to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. That actually

implies large decreases in energy and food consumption, decrease in life expectancy, marked decrease in world population implying one child or halve child world policy. As so well noted by

Newtownian1 above even the so called 'steady state' is no longer an option due to the continued increase in maintenance energy. Further more, we have already reached two of the

irreversible natural positive climate feedback loops: a) the warming of polar regions due to melting ice cover and exposure of dark material to the sun and b) methane escape from Siberian

and North American frozen lands, which have started defrosting back in 2007 and now account for an unstoppable ever increasing contribution to global warming. At this stage the battle to

save our environment is lost and we should be concentrating on methods of coping with a 4-6C increases and the association devastation. THIS CONTENT IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY GUARDIAN

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