This year marks the 40th anniversary of the United Nation`s first

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the United Nation`s first

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the United Nation’s first environmental
conference, which was held in Stockholm in 1972. The anniversary will be celebrated
with a pre-conference two months prior to the "earth summit" in Rio. TCO (The
Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees) is therefore launching the "TCO
Rio Ranking" in which data for 134 countries has been gathered together to monitor
and compare how "greenly" different economies have evolved during the forty years
that have elapsed since 1972.
To our knowledge this is the first time that such a comprehensive comparative
ranking of the environmental and economic development of nations has been
published. Our hope is that researchers, organizations and other actors interested in
the field of green economy will utilize the database to acquire deeper understanding
and also to gather better arguments in the progress towards sustainable working life.
This process will require major improvements in energy efficiency as well as in
emission reductions, both in order to secure the competitiveness of jobs but also to
ensure a healthy environment.
We have systematized the most environmentally strategic indicators in the database
- now available on TCO's website at www.tco.se/riorank - together with the report
“TCO examines the Climate Transition and the Transition Climate”.
The database can be used as a tool to evaluate various possible energy economics
sustainability measures and targets. The database’s ranking mechanism can also be
used to make various comparisons as to how different countries’ efficiency has
improved during specific time periods.
TCO is interested in the development of a green economy because this is a
precondition for securing future job opportunities and ensuring good health. Our
ability to deliver full employment and greater prosperity depends on our ability to
solve climate, environmental and resource problems, which are all in turn affected by
how energy efficient we are and how renewably we organize our energy supply.
Politicians, business leaders, trade unionists and journalists throughout the world can
use the database and the rankings to analyze how their countries’ progress in
different sustainability-relevant indicators. Understanding why some countries have
performed well in certain periods is the key to policy changes, improved environment
and increased competitiveness.
TCO and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) want to contribute to
the global sustainability debate. As is the case in both labour market matters,
occupational health and safety issues, we believe that union involvement in climate,
environmental and resource issues is a prerequisite for best practice in solving the
sustainability problems faced by the world’s population.
The database is hereby made available in order to enable anyone interested to use
the data and advocate the importance of improvements there they live and work.
Measuring, setting targets, and evaluating outcomes will force decision-makers to
come up with - not just pretty words - but concrete plans and actions that can change
reality and secure sustainable development.
Efforts to create sustainable development must take place globally within the UN
framework, through responsible national policies in all countries, and via the
involvement of business leaders and unions in all workplaces. TCO and ITUC want to
contribute to all of these processes and demonstrate the desire to be involved and to
take responsibility for the necessary transition. One way of achieving this has been to
produce, present and make openly accessible the above-mentioned database.