Mobilizing the Business Community in Brazil and Beyond

Abstract

Twenty years after the first Rio Conference, the world has changed dramatically. Global population has grown 28 percent, the global economy has expanded 75 percent, and Earth’s systems have become more strained than ever before. The global economic downturn that started in 2008 revealed how strongly short-term economic imperatives outweigh political decisions, even as the traditional development model confronts the need for a dramatic change of course based on sustainable development principles.¹