Making Rio 2012 Work: Setting the Stage for Global Economic, Social and Ecological Renewal

The world faces old and new security challenges that are more complex than our multilateral and national institutions are currently capable of managing. Publics around the world remain focused on material standards of living; leaders are reluctant to expend political capital on long-term, global risk issues; multilateral ‘bandwidth’ remains low; in many cases it is unclear what solutions would look like. This paper argues for the need to place unsustainability squarely at the center of larger debates about globalisation and the global economy – in particular by focusing on three key areas:

1. Greening growth;
2. Equity in a world of limits; and
3. Building resilience to shocks and stresses.