The Earth Summit was a historical opportunity to set the world on the correct development trajectory. Negotiators from 191 countries came together to chart a road map for sustainable development and poverty eradication. The theme was green economy. But developed and developing countries refused to bury their differences. Developed countries were not ready to let go of their extravagant lifestyle, while developing countries were expected to take on green commitments. The countries could not even reach a consensus on the definition of green economy.

Industries that over-achieve targets will be awarded energy saving certificates that can be traded like carbon. With the aim to make the industrial sector energy efficient, India’s Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) launched its 'Perform, Achieve and Trade' (PAT) scheme on July 4. The scheme has set energy efficiency targets for industries. Those that fail to achieve targets will have to pay penalty. PAT has been launched under the National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency, one of the eight missions under the umbrella National Action Plan on Climate Change, launched in June 2008.

In an article that forms part of the PLoS Medicine series on Big Food, Corinna Hawkes and colleagues provide a perspective from South Africa on the rise of multinational and domestic food companies, and argue that government should act urgently through education about the health risks of unhealthy diets, regulation of Big Food, and support for healthy foods.

In the light of the great divergence debate, the economic history of Asian countries has attracted increased attention in the past decade. This article brings early modern Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka) into the discourse, providing new quantitative evidence on wages, prices, demography and occupations from the Dutch East India Company archives. It is shown that throughout the eighteenth century, Ceylonese living standards were around subsistence level, lower than in Europe, and, until 1760, China.