In less than two weeks, the U.S. Chamber will join business, government, and civil society representatives from throughout the world at the Rio+20 U.N. Conference on sustainable development.

With Rio+20 around the corner, we are headed to Brazil to engage the international community in discussions on securing an environmentally sustainable energy sector in Brazil and the United States. We’ll be joined by the Business Civic Leadership Center (BCLC) as well as 180 ministers and 50,000 activists, businesses representatives and NGOs in Rio for discussions that are likely to impact how we do business moving forward.

The private sector has a great role to play in achieving the goals of the Rio+20 conference. As the U.N. Global Compact acknowledges “corporate sustainability – defined as the delivery of long-term value in economic, social and environmental terms – is the single most important business contribution to sustainable development.”

In the lead up to Rio+20 conference, we’ll be hosting a roundtable discussion with BCLC on Investing in the Future of Brazil Through CSR and Procurement. The event will focus on the way the private sector is using strategic Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to help “emerging economies like Brazil develop holistically, and will also include a discussion on sustainable procurement opportunities leading up to the 2016 Rio Olympics.”

We are hopeful that the right choices will be made by our leaders and look forward to participating and bringing the voice of American business to Rio+20.