There is a growing outcry at the corporate capture of United Nations action on sustainable development - a campaigner reports from the Rio Summit

The lobbyists will be out in force at this week's Rio Summit on sustainable development - fighting to make sure that any proposals to tackle the severe environmental and social crises we face do not get in the way of business as usual. When world leaders met at the first Earth Summit in Brazil, in 1992, there was widespread recognition that global levels of consumption - particularly in the developed north - were stretching the planet's limits. Since then, demand has increased, but the agenda for action has shifted away from international agreements and regulation towards voluntary partnerships with the private sector.

Which is why business leaders, including representatives from companies with controversial environmental records such as Shell, Monsanto and Coca-Cola will be at the heart of the negotiations - working with the United Nations agencies and politicians to set the agenda and agree on the text. Is it any wonder that expectations are low for this summit?

One of the key channels of influence is via a corporate campaign coalition called Business Action for Sustainable Development, which is coordinated by the UN's global compact - a voluntary initiative bringing together some 6,000 companies, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and the International Chamber of Commerce.

The BASD claims to be the official voice of business for the Rio+20 summit and brings together many of the world's largest corporations including Monsanto, Shell, BASF, ArcelorMittal and Suez who are promoting the idea of a "green economy" to save the planet. Regulations that restrict their activities should be avoided, they argue, with environmental targets pursued through market-based mechanisms such as carbon trading or biodiversity offsets.

The WBCSD has also been a prominent voice in the run up to the conference, allegedly 'greenwashing' business by promoting case studies of 'environmentally-friendly' actions, highlighting supposed 'good practice' and selectively overlooking other activities by the same corporation which may be considered less than ideal.

One such example is the German chemicals giant BASF, which has been promoting tree planting in Brazil. The WBCSD does not mention BASF's core business, promoting the sale of pesticides across the world - including in the vast soy monocultures of Latin America, which have devastated local environments, leading to deforestation, destroying soil fertility and polluting water resources.

And BASF was also recently accused of misleading the public and European Parliamentarians when it was found to be behind a recent parliamentary event on bees and biodiversity, which included a bee-friendly garden set up as publicity stunt outside the EP.

The BASD was the host of the summit's 'business day', which took place on the eve of the event. It was organised in partnership with the global compact, the WBCSD and the ICC - allowing companies such as BP and Shell to highlight the 'sustainable' activities in the oil and gas sector.

Yet, a citizens' petition demanding an end to the subsidies received by the oil and gas sector to help them extract fossil fuels and promote greater energy use - exacerbating climate change - appears not to have made it into the draft negotiating text.

There has been a growing outcry at this corporate capture of the Rio process, with organisations and individuals from around the world signing an open letter to the UN calling for action. The close cooperation between UN agencies and large corporations, the letter points out, imperils the UN's ability to pursue people-centred policies that effectively address the social and environmental crisis.

The green economy model promoted for the Rio summit, centred around market-based mechanisms, is a clear example. Many are calling on the UN to restart efforts to ensure that global corporations are effectively regulated and can be held accountable for their environmental impact.

(By Olivier Hoedeman*, Public Service Europe, 20/06/2012)

* Olivier Hoedeman is research and campaign coordinator at the Brussels-based campaign group Corporate Europe Observatory. He is currently in Rio de Janeiro for the United Nations summit on Sustainable Development.