Energy and sustainable development

Energy and sustainable development

Sustainable development can be broadly defined as living, producing and
consuming in a manner that meets the needs of the present without compromising
the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It has
become a key guiding principle for policy in the 21st century. Worldwide,
politicians, industrialists, environmentalists, economists and theologians
affirm that the principle must be applied at international, national and local
level. Actually applying it in practice and in detail is of course much harder!
In the international context, the word ‘development’ refers to improvement
in quality of life, and, especially, standard of living in the less developed
countries of the world. The aim of sustainable development is for the
improvement to be achieved whilst maintaining the ecological processes on
which life depends. At a local level, progressive businesses aim to report a
positive triple bottom line, i.e. a positive contribution to the economic, social
and environmental well-being of the community in which they operate.
The concept of sustainable development became widely accepted following
the seminal report of the World Commission on Environment and
Development (1987). The commission was set up by the United Nations
because the scale and unevenness of economic development and population
growth were, and still are, placing unprecedented pressures on our planet’s
lands, waters and other natural resources. Some of these pressures are severe
enough to threaten the very survival of some regional populations and, in
the longer term, to lead to global catastrophes. Changes in lifestyle, especially
regarding production and consumption, will eventually be forced on
populations by ecological and economic pressures.