Negotiators For Rio+20 Declaration Hard At Work To Weaken, Eliminate Green Targets, Language [View all]

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nformal talks are taking place in New York until Friday to shape the main negotiating text. One area of discussion is how to measure economic growth to take into account the value of natural assets, such as water and forests, as well as innovative financing, phasing out fossil fuel subsidies and a plan to help prevent ocean acidification.

Participants said there had been moves to water down a clause which would require companies to include sustainability information in their corporate reporting. "It appears to be batting to and fro in a tennis rally here," David Pitt-Watson, chairman of investor Hermes Focus Asset Management, told Reuters from New York.

"There have been suggestions for watering down and also for putting the clause back in as it originally was," he said.

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Language on phasing out "market distorting and environmentally harmful" subsidies, including for fossil fuels, agriculture and fisheries, could also be weakened or dropped after opposition from Japan, the United States and Canada, observers said. More than 130 heads of government and deputies are on the summit's speaker list but some major figures, such as U.S. President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron, are not expected to attend.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/01/us-rio-text-idUSBRE84011T20120501