Twenty years after the pivotal 1992 Rio Earth Summit, a follow-up United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD or Rio+20) is being organised to renew political commitment for sustainable development, assess progress in meeting previously agreed commitments, and address new challenges. This follows the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. The 2012 conference will focus on the green economy and the institutional framework for sustainable development.

The EU is currently preparing its position for the UNCSD and the European Parliament and the European Economic and Social Committee are organising a series of meetings to feed into this process. On 4 May, the European Parliament is hosting a meeting to inform its Members of current preparations for the Conference and to begin to develop the Parliament’s position for the upcoming Conference. Marc Pallemaerts (Senior Fellow, IEEP) and Derek Osborn (IEEP Board Member and Member of the EESC) will both be presenting at this meeting. The meeting will be chaired by MEP Jo Leinen, who is the Chair of the Parliament’s Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety.