In our Statement to the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the Club of Rome emphasized that “governance frameworks must be redesigned such that everyone can benefit from growth”. Little progress was made in Johannesburg on reform of the global governance frameworks: the UN bodies and Bretton-Woods institutions. However, the enlargement of the European Union and the debate in the Convention on the Future of Europe provide both an opportunity for change, and an example of how change can be brought about.

Sustainable development, in its economic, social, cultural and environmental dimensions, will not be achieved by treaties and legislative action within current governance frameworks. Their redesign is essential.

The current European debate is understandably focused on strengthening democratic accountability coherence and efficiency in a wider Union. Yet, it must also enable a more effective implementation of the sustainable development strategy adopted in Göteborg in 2002, in fulfillment of the EU Treaty commitment. Furthermore, it must
enable the European Union to become a key drive of change in the world governance reform with a view to a new architecture of institutions which can achieve world-wide sustainable development.

At the world level, the key elements have already been identified in the Statement to the WSSD:

“ We need a new ‘ethic of human solidarity’ to emerge in all global governance frameworks. This requires civil and political leadership and responsibility. Governments in the ‘South’ must deliver the conditions indispensable for their socio-economic development. In the ‘North’, the business community and the civil society must as well contribute to this equitable development.

Global institutions must be strengthened to ensure the stability of the world economic system and to manage the ‘Global Commons’ (atmosphere, oceans, the Antarctic, etc.). For this, we need a stronger and better-informed public-policy network, and new frameworks for co-financing for development.

Our economic system enables the working population to finance the education of the young and the care of the old. Sustainable development therefore requires stability. However, the global-networked community - with new, strong linkages - has tremendous potential for chaotic volatility. New ways must be found to control dominant interests, to de-couple subsystems, to manage shocks and fluctuations and to invest more in knowledge and skills. We must strengthen the system’s ability to respond to shocks - either by damping them or by diffusing them. Governments and the Bretton-Woods organizations must have economic stability and sustainable development as top-level objectives, and must be brought into more coherent and synergetic action. They must also move towards a more widely-based measurement of development than GDP alone.

We must also create frameworks which support ‘green entrepreneurship’. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) must become a ubiquitous requirement. By 2010, ‘triple bottom line’ reporting, including on natural, social and human capital development, should be normal practice for all publicly-quoted companies. We must also find the frameworks for new partnerships between global corporations and local communities.

The United Nations should have a stronger, top-level Council on Sustainable Development, which can ensure the coherence of activities within the UN family of organizations, in partnership between governments, business and civil society. In addition, actions on education and cultural diversity must be strengthened, with co-financing mechanisms to improve dramatically the degree of literacy of young and adult persons and to provide training in skills necessary for assimilation of scientific and technological progress in developing countries by 2030. Education and training programs must get much greater financial support in the next decades.”

At the European level, much progress has been made, and a further strengthening of the European institutions will help. However, some key issues are not yet sufficiently addressed, and deserve further attention:

1 Article 3 of the Treaty on European Union commits Member States to the goal of sustainable development. This commitment must be reflected in the institutional and governance frameworks for the ‘future of Europe’.

2 Sustainable development is a complex and cross-cutting challenge: it needs strong leadership and a more integrated approach to policy development and implementation. Europe needs a ‘Sustainable Development Council’ at the highest level, and similar strong structures within the Parliament and Commission.

3 Sustainable development will require the combined efforts of governments, business and civil society. A formal structure for joint and voluntary actions is needed. While the Economic and Social Committee has largely met the original needs for dialogue on social policies, its participation and mandate are not suited to the new challenges of sustainable development.

4 Europe also needs to rationalize and strengthen its participation in international governance bodies to catalyze their reform and help restructure them with more coherent mandates for sustainable development.