Roads from Rio+20: pathways to achieve global sustainability goals by 2050

The report explores a number of pathways in terms of effort, interlinkages between themes and governance conditions. The past twenty years have seen little progress in crucial areas. If we want to be successful in achieving sustainability goals, a new approach is needed. The report proposes such a new approach that is based on a shared vision for 2050 with long-term goals and consistent short-term targets and strong policy actions by governments with numerous civil and corporate initiatives worldwide.

This is the main conclusion drawn by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency PBL in its report 'Roads from Rio+20: Pathways to achieve global sustainability goals by 2050'. De key findings and summary of this report were published on May 15 2012. The full report will be published at the end of May 2012.

In June 2012, the international community will convene in Rio de Janeiro for the UN Conference on sustainable development. Since the first Rio Conference twenty years ago, progress has been made in some areas. However, actions have not been able to bend the negative trends in other critical areas of sustainable development – such as hunger, loss of biodiversity, access to energy, climate change and air polution.

This report shows the interconnected pathways of measurements needed to achieve international sustainable development goals after the Rio+20 Conference. The crucial question is how to implement these measurements. The report suggests a pragmatic governance approach consisting of:

• A shared vision for 2050
• Strenghthened short-term targets, based on the long-term vision
• Strong policy actions by governments, building on the strength of civil society and business
• Strengthened global governance through three complementary strategies.