European trade unions are expressing disappointment in the recently concluded United Nations Earth Summit held in Rio, Brazil.

The Rio+20 summit ended “with a weak text full of good intentions, promises and diplomatic fluff but no concrete targets nor any serious action plan to reverse the unsustainable course of the global economy,” according to a statement released by the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI).

“The concept of a ‘green economy’ (one of the two main themes of the summit) remained controversial with most developing countries seeing it as a hurdle for their future economic growth.”

The ETUI did note the final declaration included some positive developments on the social dimension of sustainability. However, they charged that the summit failed to produce serious policies for a transition to “a new socio-economic model for the planet.”