The Rio+20 summit has raised a number of difficult questions about law and technology: what is the relationship between intellectual property and the environment? What role does intellectual property play in sustainable development? Who will own and control the Green Economy? What is the best way to encourage the transfer of environmentally sound technologies? Should intellectual property provide incentives for fossil fuels? What are the respective roles of the public sector and the private sector in green innovation? How should biodiversity, traditional knowledge and Indigenous intellectual property be protected?

The Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 resulted in a number of landmark agreements. The 1992 texts include the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, Agenda 21, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the Forest Principles. These agreements considered the relationship between intellectual property, sustainable development, and the environment.

The Rio+20 conference has focused on two central themes: “a green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication” and the “institutional framework for sustainable development”. Chinese diplomat Sha Zukang, secretary-general for Rio+20, observed: “A critical issue is Intellectual Property Rights, for which I have always stressed the key is affordability. If technologies are not affordable, then all this pledge to international cooperation is just empty talk.”

There was much debate over intellectual property, development, and the Green Economy at the summit.