Stakeholders met Friends of Paragraph 47 in Lille
Friends of paragraph 47 is a governments’ group originally formed by South Africa, Brazil, France and Denmark in the aftermath of Rio+20, to work around the agenda of corporate sustainability reporting (paragraph 47 of the Rio+20 outcome). The group met with stakeholders in Lille on the 16 of November during the Responsible Economy World Forum. This meeting was organized by the Global Reporting Initiative and UNEP who constitute the secretariat for this group. The group of governments welcomed Norway as a new member, andpresented the charter outlining its vision: “Corporate transparency and accountability are key elements of a well-functioning market economy, and enhance the private sector’s contribution to sustainable development” and conviction: “that the role of Governments is essential to foster a culture of corporate transparency”.
The Group of Friends of Paragraph 47 has extended an invitation to other countries to join this group and work on the identification of best practices for sustainability reporting and policies to encourage this, giving attention to the needs of developing countries, including capacity building. The secretariat also presented the stakeholder engagement proposal and invited stakeholders to put forward their interest to work on this agenda. More activities will follow during the next weeks. For information on the secretariat’s work contact: Pietro Bertazzi,[email protected].
Stakeholder Forum has convened a dialogue and advocated for this agenda during Rio+20, jointly working with Brazilian NGO Vitae Civilis and a multi-stakeholder coalition of NGOs and responsible investors. It also supports the secretariat in strengthening stakeholder participation. For more information about our work, please contact: Jeannet Lingán:[email protected]