Given the big failure of the Rio+20 conference, it is clear that a top down approach by national governments around the world alone won’t cut our emissions enough to avoid a rise of temperatures below 2°C compared to pre-industrial levels.

Based on this, our civilization has to find a solution, (more…)

The end of subsidies for fossil fuels was one of the big topics at Rio+20. One of the businessman to support initiative was Virgin founder Richard Branson.

He said getting ridding of all subsidies of fossil fuels would be one of the most useful outcomes of the Rio+20. “That would be the biggest boost for the clean fuel industry,” he told Green Biz. (more…)

Twenty years after the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro promised an era of aggressive action on biodiversity loss and global warming, the United Nations Rio+20 sustainability summit ended Friday with recriminations and a growing sense that international institutions will play an increasingly diminished role in solving environmental problems. (more…)

Carbon dioxide emissions have risen by even more than previously thought, according to new data analyzed by the Guardian, casting doubt on whether the world can avoid dangerous climate change.

The data has emerged as governments met in Rio de Janeiro to finalize the outcome of the Rio+20 conference, (more…)

The outcome of the Rio+20, the sustainability conference held in Rio de Janeiro this week and which folds today, will be a document that lacks focus and does not tackle the urgency of the problems the world faces, according to Celso Lafer, president of FAPESP, an organization that supports research in São Paulo. (more…)

World leaders attending the UN’s Rio+20 sustainability summit appear prepared to rubber-stamp an agreement that has been widely criticized by environmental groups and some government officials as ineffectual.

As Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Russian President Vladimir Putin, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, (more…)

On June 20th the health and use of the world’s oceans takes center stage at Rio +20, the sustainable development conference in Rio de Janeiro. The garden of the city’s modern art museum (MAM) is where the Blue Pavilion has been erected in order to house a line-up of events that will unfold during the day. The program will kick off with a press conference about the film Planet (more…)

Speaking at the Rio+20 sustainability summit, the mayors of New York City and Rio de Janeiro will announce that 48 of the world’s largest cities are taking steps to cut 248 tons of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, the equivalent of removing 44 million cars from the road for a year. (more…)

As the world converges in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest sustainability conference of the year, the Rio+20, twitter activity is booming. One of the most popular hashtags today was #endfossilfuelsubsidies, which aims to end subsidies for fossil fuel energy.

A sustainable future must hinge on alternative (more…)

With the United Nations Rio+20 summit on sustainable development set to open next Wednesday, negotiators from developing nations walked out of a key working group over disagreements with wealthier nations about funding environmentally responsible development and the transfer of green technology. (more…)