Carbopedia

What is Sustainable Development?

20 years ago, the leaders of the world sat together at the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development to define "sustainable development".

"Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs... sustainable development is not a fixed state of harmony, but rather a process of change in which the exploitation of resources, the direction of investments, the orientation of technological development, and institutional change are made consistent with future as well as present needs."

Our Common Future (1987), Oxford: Oxford University Press. United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development (Bruntland Report)

"Sustainable development implies a broad view of human welfare, a long term perspective about the consequences of today's activities, and the full involvement of civil society to reach viable solutions."

Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development

"Human wellbeing includes not only the satisfaction of economic needs, but also aspirations for a clean and healthy environment, and preferences in terms of social development. Types of capital that sustain wellbeing include natural, human and social capital."

OECD 2001, Global and Structural Policies Division, OECD Environment Directorate, Paris, France