The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) in June 2012—commonly referred to as Rio+20—left many perplexed. If a number of advances were made, the results fell well short of what is needed to redirect the global economy onto a sustainable course.

This issue of Sustainable Development Insights argues that accountability-or lack thereof-is a fundamental challenge in confronting improved global environmental governance (GEG) and that success must be measured not simply by the vitality of the negotiation process but by the robustness of implementation.

This paper outlines the nature of the linkages between environment and globalization, especially highlighting the fact that these are two-way linkages: not only can the processes of globalization impact the environment, but the dynamics of the environment can also impact and shape the nature of globalization. It begins exploring these linkages through the lens of five "propositions' that seek to highlight those elements that are particularly prescient for policy-making and policy-makers. The propositions do not seek to cover every aspect of the environment and globalization problematique.