CorpWatch beleives that the use of the weasel word “encourage” is in line with the language of the Rio+20 documents. Lasse Gustavsson, the head of the WWF team at the conference, said on Sunday that “’encourage’ is used approximately 50 times in the negotiating text, while the word ‘must’ is used three times.” The article looks at the weak commitments on corporate accountability. Read the full article here.

The Peoples’ Sustainability Treaties is an open invitation to all CSOs to come together to develop an independent, collective outcome for Rio+20, and to plan their actions towards sustainable futures for all. Produced in parallel to UNCSD2012, the PSTs were highly successful during the Rio+20 process.

The fourteen Peoples’ Sustainability Treaties, evolved through a consultative process with hundred of civil society organizations, and have now converged at the Rio+20 to launch a Manifesto on the final day of the summit. All civil society organizations and citizens of the world are invited to commit themselves by endorsing the Manifesto at: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/peoples-sustainability-manifesto/

A group of leading international humanitarian, development, social justice, environmental, and workers’ organisations today warned that next month’s UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) looks set to add almost nothing to global efforts to deliver sustainable development. The group also warns that too many governments are using or allowing the talks to undermine established human rights and agreed principles such as equity, precaution, and‘polluter pays.’ Among the demands civil society groups call on governments to: Agree a global framework of rules to strengthen corporate reporting on social and environmental impacts worldwide, consistent with the Rio Principles, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and encompassing the full range of impacts associated with corporate activities.

In a letter to the national negotiators, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) strongly pressed governments to commit to concrete action at the United Nations Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development. Importantly the letter urges governments to strengthen paragraph 24 of the Zero Draft Document by including the explicit requirement for companies to adopt standardized, rules-based sustainability reporting.

Read the full details here, and download the letter here.