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Placing Bets on Leadership at Rio+20

The year 2012 is a significant milestone for sustainable development, marking the 20th anniversary of the United Nations’ Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, and the 25th anniversary of the Brundtland Report Our Common Future. In recognition, GlobeScan and SustainAbility are undertaking a research program that will explore the sustainable development successes and failures of the past two decades, create a renewed sense of urgency and awareness heading into the 2012 Earth Summit, and prescribe a roadmap for essential sustainability leadership beyond Rio.

Last week, SustainAbility Executive Director Mark Lee and GlobeScan Senior Vice President Chris Coulter looked ahead at what's at stake for business and society at next year's summit, and at the long odds on whether we will summon the required leadership, in a blog post at Guardian Sustainable Business.

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Survey on Key Challenges and Industry Performance

In the latest poll from GlobeScan and SustainAbility, a panel of more than 500 global sustainability experts and practitioners highlight society’s ongoing challenge of managing or addressing climate change effectively.  Some 81 percent of global experts rated climate change as the most urgent sustainable development challenge facing society today, more than any other issue on the agenda. Meanwhile, only eight percent of experts responded that the oil and gas sector is managing its transition to sustainable development effectively. Other energy-intensive industries, including the mining and chemicals sectors, also fared poorly on the survey.

Also, in a worrying trend, the survey suggests experts view several key issues including climage change, energy and water scarcity as less urgent than in previous years. Reasons for the decline are likely numerous, but one thing is certain: these issues are growing more, not less, urgent for business, and leadership will be needed to accelerate progress even as the challenges begin to seem more and more commonplace.

Download full results | Read coverage on GreenBiz

Engaging Stakeholders Members' Webinar on Sustainable Consumption

The Sustainable Consumption debate rages on, as population growth and a global culture of consumerism are increasingly seen as drivers of unsustainable consumption in a resource-constrained world.  Business has a big role to play here, and we're starting to see emerging examples of companies tackling the issue head-on.  Some are changing the way they design products and processes, others are focusing on innovative approaches to resource management and disposal, and a few are seeking to reinvent their business models, to both drive and capitalize on change in the way consumers value products and services.

On September 28th, members of the Engaging Stakeholders Network will be discussing what their own companies could - and should - be doing to tackle and derive value from the transition to Sustainable Consumption.

If you are interested in joining the network and would like to attend the webinar, we have a limited number of guest places so please get in touch.

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Other News & Updates

• SustainAbility seeking passionate and talented Web & Communications Manager
• Kyra Choucroun to keynote on innovation at London Influencer Conference, Oct 6-7
• SustainAbility launches new 'Changing Tack' column on GreenBiz