The latest issue of "Rio+20: Making it Happen," the newsletter by the Secretariat for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, focuses on green economy, highlighting recent events and publications on the topic, as well as relevant resources from the Secretariat.
31 March 2011: The latest issue of “Rio+20: Making it Happen,” the newsletter by the Secretariat for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20), focuses on green economy, one of the two themes of the Conference.
On recent events, the newsletter highlights: an event of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) on the transition to a green economy, during which the Expert Panel Report on the transition was presented to 115 participants by its authors, José Antonio Ocampo, Aaron Cosbey and Martin Khor; the Workshop on Green Economy Opportunities and Challenges, an interactive session convened in March by the Friends of the Thematic Debate on Green Economy; and the February workshop titled “Towards a Green and Resilient Economy for the Caribbean,” organized by the Green Economy Coalition, a member of the Major Groups.
On relevant resources from the UNCSD Secretariat, the newsletter features: the “green economy” page of the UNCSD website, which highlights related national and regional policies and practices, meetings and events and important publications; and the recently released first issue of the “Rio+20 Issues Brief,” with the topic “Trade and Green Economy.” The brief was produced with input from the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and examines policy options for green transformation and their compatibility with World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.
Other recent publications on the green economy include the formal documents for PrepCom II (Report of the Secretary-General, Synthesis Report on Best Practices and Lessons Learned); reports by other UN actors (the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) report on green jobs; UNCTAD’s paper on a development-led green economy; DESA’s brief on a “global green new deal,” and the Green Economy Report from the UN Environment Programme (UNEP)); and academic work (on governance for a green economy and greening household behavior).
Upcoming events include several focused on clean energy and energy efficiency, such as the meetings of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; the second Clean Energy Ministerial, immediately following IRENA’s sessions, also in Abu Dhabi; the International Conference on Clean Energy in Dalian, China; and the seventh International Congress and Exhibition on Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Sources for South-East Europe.
The next issue of “Making it Happen” will focus on the second theme of the Conference, institutional framework for sustainable development. [Publication: Making it Happen Vol. 2, Issue 6]