Brussels, 13/06/2012 (Agence Europe) - With all parties fearing the breakdown of the UN summit on sustainable development, RIO +20 (20-22 June), the European Union is trying to lay these fears to rest, by reiterating its commitment to contributing to the success of this conference to mark the anniversary of the Earth summit. The EU wants a roadmap for the green economy, together with “concrete, credible and irreversible” objectives, Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik said on Wednesday 13 June. These will apply to 5 key areas - sustainable energy, water, the sustainable management of soil and ecosystems, oceans, efficiency of resources, with particular emphasis on waste - identified in the negotiation mandate conferred upon the Commissioner (see EUROPE 10573). In the absence of an agreement on everything, “the adoption of a document with sufficiently concrete objectives, even if these cannot be legally binding, and an agreement on what remains to be done” would already be a success, said the commissioner.
Talking to the press in Brussels about the issues on which consensus has yet to be reached, Potocnik referred to the green economy, the implementation of the agreement with measurement objectives (such as the natural accountancy mechanism to measure GDP), the sustainable development objectives and institutional questions “on which there is no guarantee of agreement”. The commissioner regrets this, because he feels that it is important to have the substance of sustainable development “but also the institutions which make up the framework”. However, he welcomes the fact that Africa is in favour of making UNEP into a proper global environmental agency, or along the same lines as the EU.
“After tough pre-negotiations in New York, there was not enough progress (see EUROPE 10626), there are difficult days ahead of us”, the commissioner conceded. He added: “The EU is prepared to commit up to the last minute. But until we take off to leave Rio, we will remain optimistic”. This is exactly what Ida Auken said on behalf of the Danish Presidency after the Environment Council of 11 June.
Why the green economy? “Because this is our survival strategy. We have to change our growth strategy and our resources utilisation strategy to avoid allowing an increase of a hungry and unemployed population.” It is true that progress has been made since 1992, the date of the first Earth summit, but if we do not do more, “we will need two planets by 2050”, he added. Not many European heads of state will be travelling to Rio. Potocnik is not concerned by this, because “irrespective of the level of political representation, we must understand that we need this agreement”. (AN/transl.fl)