The United Nations (U.N.) Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD or "Rio+20") will convene June 20-22, 2012, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This conference marks the 20 th anniversary of the U.N. Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio in 1992 and the 10 th anniversary of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, South Africa. As many as 115 heads of state may attend, with up to 50,000 other participants. Rio+20 organizers seek three objectives: securing renewed political commitment to sustainable development, assessing the progress and implementation gaps in meeting already agreed commitments, and addressing new and emerging challenges. No legally binding agreements are expected to be made at the meeting. Government delegations may agree to a process to identify new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In addition, reform of international environmental institutions is on the conference agenda, with a focus on the U.N. Commission on Sustainable Development and the U.N. Environment Program (UNEP). In 1992, governments attending the "Rio" conference (formally called the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development or UNCED) politically endorsed the objective of "sustainable development"—achieving economic, environmental, and social development that "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs ." High-level government representatives produced a political declaration, Agenda 21, and a Statement of Forest Principles—none of which contain legally binding commitments. Agenda 21 led to establishment of the U.N. Commission on Sustainable Development, under the U.N. Economic and Social Council, as well as creation of national commissions on sustainable development in many countries, including the United States. The Rio meeting also opened for signature two treaties: the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). This report summarizes the objectives and major issues of Rio+20 and gives a sampling of the wide diversity of views to be discussed by government officials; non-governmental organizations (NGOs); business leaders and trade associations; and representatives of youth, women, land-locked countries, cities, researchers, artisans, farmers, and many, many others who will be present at Rio+20. It also outlines United States policy toward the conference and possible issues for congressional consideration, including possible action on conference outcomes, the role of Agenda 21, and, more broadly, the possible role of sustainable development in the United States and U.S. foreign policy. Few Members of Congress or their staffs are expected to attend Rio+20. Many experts anticipate no legally binding or immediately consequential outcomes from the conference and some might question the relevance of the conference to Congress. Nonetheless, it is possible that some elements of any communique may serve U.S. national interests and foreign policy. These may merit examination through briefings or hearings. Members of Congress may find it useful to be apprised of the active discussion occurring mostly outside the United States on sustainable development. Background documents prepared for Rio+20, including the Global Environmental Outlook, may provide data and descriptions of circumstances and policies in other countries that may be useful to congressional decision-making. There may be additional issues for Congress related to Rio+20 that merit attention or communication with constituents. For example, there may be differences of view between the federal executive and legislative branches of the United States on sustainable development and implementation of its principles. Also, some segments of the U.S. population have expressed suspicion and opposition to what they perceive sustainable development to be, and particularly about its potential impact on national sovereignty; some may query their Members' offices. Some have offered their concerns about Agenda 21 (see adjoining box), which is likely to be referenced in the 2012 conference. More broadly, there is some debate regarding the role of sustainable development in the United States. For much of the world, the striving for sustainable development is of central economic, social, and environmental importance. In the United States, there is lack of accord on the intersection among economic, social, and environmental policies. Almost any topic containing "sustainable" or "green" may elicit controversy in the United States. Dialogue in Congress on the concepts behind them may provide constructive opportunities for identifying common ground. Over the past decade, many stakeholders have grown increasingly impatient with, and resistant to, "top-down" decision-making by national governments and international entities. International processes have witnessed a shift toward greater inclusion of and decision-making by civil society, local communities, and the private sector. This movement seems welcomed by a large majority of Rio+20 participants. The broad inclusiveness of the conference may produce outputs that more resemble a cacophony of messages than an orchestrated plan with broad consensus. Like many international documents on issues that are complex, the output may offer length and ambiguity rather than clarity and consensus. Rio+20 is premised on analysis showing that the objectives of sustainable development of the 1992 Rio conference have not been achieved. The fifth Global Environmental Outlook (GEO-5, see section below) concluded in early June 2012 that significant progress has been made on only 4 of 90 assessed, internationally agreed goals associated with sustainable development. Nonetheless, the Rio+20 website indicates that "[g]overnments are expected to adopt clear and focused practical measures for implementing sustainable development, based on the many examples of success we have seen over the last 20 years." For optimistic observers, "the second Earth summit is a chance to take honest stock of the situation and present ways to break political deadlock and hasten progress on the ground, in the air and in the oceans." Others see the process in a stalemate that leaders in Rio are unlikely to resolve, and call for wholesale, perhaps radical, change. Among the jaded, one observer commented that "the United Nations seems to be more concerned about the number of paragraphs agreed upon than about concepts." Rio+20 includes three days of public meetings (Sustainable Development Dialogues), followed by three days of meetings among diplomatic delegations from 193 nations, including many heads of state. Governments outlined three overall objectives for the conference: 1. securing a renewed political commitment for sustainable development; 2. assessing progress and remaining gaps in implementation of sustainable development efforts; and 3. addressing new and emerging challenges. As part of these objectives, governments are expected to assess the implementation of international environmental agreements, such as the Kyoto Protocol under the U.N. Framework Agreement on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of eight internationally agreed-to development goals created in 2000. Many participants and observers hope that Rio+20 outcomes will address the Rio+20 objectives in a Communique from high level officials, which may contain agreement to a process to produce new Sustainable Development Goals, and affirmation of—and a Framework for Action to implement—internationally agreed goals. The draft Communique, entitled The Future We Want , is eclectic and sweeping, like the background reports and side meetings. As of the beginning of the third and last Preparatory Committee, only one-quarter of the draft text had been agreed and was "unbracketed" (i.e., does not contain proposed alternative language). Tens of pages, however, had been eliminated from earlier drafts. Delegations will likely continue previous differences over proposals to create a new global environment agency, "strengthen" financing, enhance technology transfer, and increase capacity in nations. In addition, the Rio+20 conference process includes collection of voluntarily submitted commitments to action from all stakeholders. The U.N. established a registry for such commitments. The preparatory committees identified two main themes: the green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication; and the institutional framework for sustainable development (IFSD). The first theme of Rio+20 is "The Green Economy." Government delegations agreed that "[e]ach country will choose its own green economy approach and policy mix, assessing national priorities and adapting measures to national institutions and economic systems." A major point of discussion, however, has been lack of agreement on what the green economy is, and what its relationship to sustainable development may be. Some see it as an element of achieving sustainable development, which was described in 1992 as consisting of three "pillars"—economic, social, and environment—all of which were critical to supporting the edifice of development. Rio+20 organizers described the green economy as "the intersection between environment and economy"; others expressed concern that this formulation gave too much emphasis to the economic pillar and not enough to social aspects (e.g., equality of women, engagement of civil society in decision-making, etc. ), and risked supplanting the three-pillar concept of sustainable development. Organizers may wish to see high-level officials agree at Rio+20 on policy options to facilitate the green economy and foster greater international cooperation. Background documents and side meetings identify a host of practices to foster a green economy by community, national, international, and corporate actors. The conference preparations emphasize a diversity across regions and countries of meanings and approaches to sustainable development. One element of the green economy that seems to enjoy widespread agreement is the importance of the private sector in sustainable development. Some observers have suggested that one outcome from the proceedings may be a large number of private deals on renewable energy, pollution control, water infrastructure, and other commercial and development investments. Issues of trade also have been examined, including risks of protectionism, subsidization, compatibility of national measures with World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, and the importance of countries' domestic conditions and institutions (e.g., protection of intellectual property) to enable trade. For example, participants may debate how technologies essential to environmentally compatible development should be developed and disseminated across countries, with disagreements on such topics as "transfer" versus commercial sales.