Rio +20 Earth Summit: 436 Visions of Sustainability, At Least

How many definitions are there to the concept of sustainable development? At least 436, according to the panel on assessing sustainability at the Rio +20 Corporate Sustainability Forum. The figure for 436 different definitions and visions of sustainable development comes from the private volU.N.tary social and environmental product labeling schemes identified by the Committee on Sustainability Assessment (COSA) have identified. That number includes labels like Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance, UTZ, and Marine Stewardship CoU.N.cil and so forth. Other panelists would later ratchet that number to more than 800 just in Europe alone. The head of COSA is Daniele Giovannucci who declared at a panel discussion devoted to Making Sustainability Standards Work for those Most in Need that the goal of COSA is to set up a consistent set of standards and indicators that can be used to assess the impact of the labels – are they actually accomplishing what they claim to be doing? Even if a person thinks that some of the goals of the certifying groups are silly, checking up on them is a laudable enterprise. His organization aims to gather evidence for effectiveness using 135 different indicators of economic, social, and environmental effects. The group has sought the advice of hU.N.dreds of groups ranging from major food companies to radical leftwing NGOs. Giovannucci declared, “If we are going to drive sustainability, we can’t drive it from a charitable or donor perspective; it must be driven through markets.”...

Big business is right there with them, calling for more gov't regulation.

...The corporate participants in that panel were intent on seeking government mandates as way to boost their profits. For example, Gabriela Werner who was representing the appliance manufacturer Embraco noted that her company currently makes a refrigerator that turns on its compressor only when cooling is needed, making it 40 percent more efficient than earlier models. However, she said her company was quite frustrated by the fact that government energy efficiency standards vary quite a bit aroU.N.d the globe, making it hard for this improved refrigerator to compete with cheaper, less efficient competitors. This lack of government regulation and standard setting was big theme in the discussion that followed. “Government policies and legislation are the main drivers to how fast we introduce new products,” explained Werner. Another panelist, Stephen Harper from Intel, was asked what it would take to drive radical innovation inside of companies. Harper declared that there is already a tremendous amoU.N.t of innovation available. He then added that companies will only invest in more energy efficiency innovation for two reasons: They have to get a regulatory signal, such as carbon tax. Or they must get a price signal. Neil Hawkins from Dow Chemical argued that governments need to set minimum building code energy efficiency standards. “It’s hard for private companies to invest without minimum energy efficiency standards,” he said...