March 30, 2012

Private Sector Role in Sustainable Development Grows Stronger Ahead of Rio Summit

Only a few months prior to the UN’s Rio+20 conference in June, some 100 representatives of governments, business and other stakeholders gathered in New York for a high-level dialogue on the business case for sustainable development.

The meeting was hosted by a business coalition of the International Chamber of Commerce, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and the United Nations Global Compact, in partnership with the governments of Barbados, Benin, the Netherlands and Vietnam.

USCIB was represented by Norine Kennedy, vice president for environment and energy.

Representatives of governments, business and other stakeholders gathered in New York to discuss sustainable development.

The dialogue took place during the third Intersessional Meeting of UN Conference on Sustainable Development. It provided a platform to discuss issues of vital importance to the private sector in advance of Rio+20 and explore the role of business in fostering inclusive green growth. Companies around the world have placed sustainability at the top of their agendas, realizing the growing significance and urgency of global environmental, social and economic challenges. Using science and technology to stimulate innovation and investment for green growth, the private sector is contributing substantially to sustainable development.

"As Rio+20 focuses on greening growth and advancing implementation, bringing business to the table is indispensable,” said USCIB’s Kennedy. “We regard a recognized role for business as a necessary element of a successful outcome of the UN conference."

USCIB members are actively involved in the Green Economies Dialogue initiative, which was launched last year to provide a forum for discussion of green growth topics among multiple stakeholders in the lead-up to Rio+20. Dialogue sessions have been held in Washington, Paris and Beijing, and two additional sessions are planned for April in Tokyo and Brasilia. USCIB members are invited to contact Kira Yevtukhova (kyevtukhova@uscib.org) for additional information.

Read more about the New York meeting on ICC’s website.

Staff contact: Norine Kennedy

More on USCIB’s Environment Committee

Green Economies Dialogue website