About: Rio Earth Summit Archives

The world's oceans are turning acidic at what could be the fastest pace of any time in the past 300 million years, even more rapidly than during a monster emission of planet-warming carbon 56 million years ago, European and US scientists say in a new study.

European leaders on Friday (2 March) could throw their weight behind a plan to convert the relatively powerless UN Environment Programme (UNEP) into a world body with the muscle to oversee treaties and protect the ecology.

The EU's Environment Commissioner Janez Poto?nik says he will “test the waters” on his priorities for the June Earth Summit during ministerial meetings in Nairobi that began today (20 February).

Italians decidedly rejected the use of existing nuclear power plants, but that does not mean abandoning the study and research on atomic energy, said Environment Minister Corrado Clini. Speaking to EURACTIV Italy in an exclusive interview, Clini also addressed other issues related to EU environmental policy and cooperation with Brazil in advance of the Rio+20 Earth Summit.

Countries will be asked this summer to sign up for 10 new sustainable development goals for the planet and promise to build green economies at the first earth summit in 20 years.

The European Parliament has called on the EU to take the lead in preparing global green actions for the UN Rio+20 Earth Summit next year.

If the world is to make any real progress on sustainable development with the renewed momentum sparked by the Rio+20 Earth summit next year, policies need to be better connected to people's daily activities and given teeth by means of proper accountability and enforcement mechanisms, the World Future Council's Maja Göpel told EURACTIV in an interview.

The European Commission yesterday (20 June) tabled proposals for next year's Rio+20 Earth Summit, spelling out the 'what, how and who' of a transition to a green economy and calling for the adoption of global roadmap to guarantee continued commitment beyond the conference itself.

As global environmental talks intensify ahead of next year's Earth Summit in Rio, Brice Lalonde, summit coordinator at the UN, called for a binding agreement on sustainable development to be reached via WTO-style negotiating rounds on topics such as energy or agriculture.

As global rhetoric on the need to move towards green economy gains ground, developing countries fear that the new discourse could be used to justify unilateral trade protection measures, merely strengthening inequalities between rich and poor nations and hindering their development.

The European Commission and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) have signed a new partnership to further global action on sustainable development and help developing countries green their economies at next year's Rio+20 summit.

The UN is still trying hard to find agreements on important issues such as trade, globalisation, and development aid, before the Johannesburg World Summit starts on 26 August.

Development Ministers discussed on 30 May the EU's common position for the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg.