Recommendations
10. With
the Rio+20 Summit now behind us, the Government should establish
permanent mechanisms to continue its engagement on the sustainable
development agenda and post-Rio commitments with a wider range
of NGOs and businesses. That continuing engagement should also
bring in civil society groups and the public, particularly to
help shape the UK's contribution to the Sustainable Development
Goals over the next two years. (paragraph 21)
11. The Government
should take full advantage of the Prime Minister's position at
the heart of the Post-2015 Development Agenda to provide international
leadership in this area. It should set out its strategy for formulating
the UK contribution to the design of the Sustainable Development
Goals and Post-2015 Development Goals, and the roles of particular
departments in that process. The Government should also engage
businesses, NGOs, civil society groups and the wider public in
developing a UK perspective on the desired design of those Goals,
to form the basis for the Government's engagement with the European
Union and the UN in the lead up to 2015. (Paragraph 39)
12. The Government
should examine the scope for introducing mandatory sustainability
reporting for the private sector, going beyond the current emissions
reporting requirement, along the lines already applied to its
own departments. (Paragraph 47)
13. The Government
should remind schools of the scope for addressing sustainable
development in their learning plans and encourage them to set
themselves up as 'sustainable schools' to promote such learning
through the practical activities that that entails. The Government
should also encourage schools to impart an understanding of the
UN and other international bodies that are charged with setting
out a sustainable development path. (Paragraph 55)
14. The Government
should revisit its Aid Environment Strategy in light of the Rio+20
commitments. It should set out a commitment to play a full role
in developing new sources of international sustainable development
finance, and build in an explicit objective of promoting 'GDP-plus'
metrics and natural capital accounting in aid-recipient countries,
as well as private sector incentives to support a green economy.
(Paragraph 59)
15. The results of
Rio+20 should be regarded by the Government as a starting point
for sustainable development in policy-making within the UK, as
much as for global initiatives. The Government should update the
2005 Sustainable Development Strategy, informed by the commitments
and recommendations of Rio+20 as well as including targets linked
to the Sustainable Development Indicators. In the meantime, the
Government should establish forums for engaging businesses, civil
society, educators and the wider public in exploring the Rio+20
commitments for the UK and how the Government could take those
forward. And the Government needs to set out a plan to bring its
influence, and that of parliamentarians across Europe (including
through the regular meetings of environmental committee members
under the rotating EU presidency), to bear on the Rio commitments
at the key staging-points towards agreeing the Post-2015 Development
Goals. (Paragraph 65)
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