RIO DE JANEIRO--()--The UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) provides an exceptional opportunity for swift policy action to accelerate and scale business solutions so 9 billion people can live well and within the limits of one planet by 2050. The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) today pressed governments to overcome their differences and to take decisive action now.
“Looking at the intense business participation, Rio might be remembered for recognizing that business is a primary source of sustainable solutions,” said Peter Bakker, President, WBCSD, at today’s Business Action for Sustainable Development (BASD) Business Day event. “We must maximize business’ innate ability to combine investment, skill and scale to provide solutions that will make the world sustainable. We must scale up solutions now.
“Today at Business Day, we heard from companies that are ready to commit to real, verifiable sustainability goals that can enable a world in which 9 billion people can live within the limits of one planet by 2050. But they cannot act alone. Governments must now act decisively to accelerate the scale-up of solutions and create an environment where companies can deliver and are motivated to do so. In return, governments should hold business accountable for progress.”
The WBCSD and its members are advocating that the policy recommendations detailed in WBCSD’s recently launched discussion paper, Changing Pace, guide the Rio+20 process and encourage government and business collaboration on locally focused objectives and regulations that can advance sustainability solutions.
Peter Bakker: “Furthermore, business is playing a vital role in accelerating the transition to a green economy. The transparent measurement and reporting of corporate sustainability activities must become standard business practice with the full realization that there are risks and potentially competing impacts to consider. That is why we joined with The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development (CEBDS) to call for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to develop a process and a timeframe to establish a global policy framework to create the appropriate enabling conditions for more widespread sustainability reporting.”
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