21 June 2012: The UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20) Secretariat has reported on the latest submissions of voluntary commitments, which is compiling in an online compendium on the Rio+20 website. As of 21 June, a total of 491 voluntary commitments have been registered. Several new commitments include the objective of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

The Ministry of Environment of Japan submitted initiatives to achieve global sustainable development through concrete environment actions at regional and international levels. The Ministry of Environment of Japan specifically aims to create: a society in harmony with nature based on the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD); a low-carbon society through reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 80% by 2050; and a sound material society based on the 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle).

The local government of Catalonia, Spain, registered its voluntary agreement programme for the reduction of GHG emissions. The programme aims to involve all interested Catalan businesses, public administration bodies and non-profit organizations in reducing GHG emissions. Participating organizations will provide data on annual GHG emissions and collaborate with the Catalan Office for Climate Change to develop and implement reduction measures. To date, 64 businesses and organizations have committed to the programme.

The BioRegional Development Group submitted a sustainable consumption and production commitment to develop sustainable building centres of excellence in China by 2016. Their “One Planet Living” commitment aims to develop Jinshan into a low carbon community within the Southern China Green Building demonstration zone. The BioRegional Development group also plans to build a zero carbon office building within Jinshan.

Commitment registration can be done at www.uncsd2012.org/commit. Username/password can be received by emailing uncsd2012@un.org. [Rio+20 Webpage on Voluntary Commitments]