Outcomes of the UN Rio+20 Earth Summit - Environmental Audit Committee Contents


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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Prepared 14 June 2013