by: United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA)

Voluntary commitments and partnerships for sustainable development are multi-stakeholder initiatives voluntarily undertaken by Governments, intergovernmental organizations, major groups and others that aim to contribute to the implementation of intergovernmentally agreed sustainable development goals and commitments in the Rio+20 outcome document “The Future We Want”, Agenda 21, the Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21 or the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development.

The present report aims to synthesize current information on the 1,382 voluntary commitments, partnerships, initiatives and networks for sustainable development that have been registered to date with the Secretariat of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), the Sustainable Energy for All Initiative (SE4All), United Nations Global Compact, Every Woman Every Child, the Higher Education Sustainability Initiative, the Sustainable Transport Action Network, and other similar initiatives. These voluntary commitments and partnerships are compiled and available through the Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform unified SD in Action registry.

The outcome document of the Rio+20 Conference mandated the United Nations Secretariat, through its paragraph 283 , to establish and maintain a comprehensive registry of voluntary initiatives to promote sustainable development and poverty eradication. The registry should make information about commitments fully transparent and accessible to the public, and should be periodically updated. This report further responds to this mandate and aims to serve as a basis for further discussion on how voluntary initiatives complement government-led action in realizing sustainable development.

UN Press release - New United Nations Report Urges Accountability Framework as Voluntary Commitments Galvanize Action for Sustainability

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