Sustainable Development
Sustainability is one of the essential principles of governance, and it is the one that is most prevalent at the moment. And all large organisations – and many smaller ones – now have or claim to have a sustainability plan. As a result, we must first define precisely what we mean by sustainability.
Defining sustainability
The term “sustainability” refers to the impact that current actions have on the possibilities accessible in the future. The Brundtland Report, issued in 1987, serves as the foundation for all definitions of sustainability. This is a quote from the World Commission on Environment and Development’s report titled Our Common Future. However, it is commonly referred to as the Brundtland Report, after the Commission’s chairperson.
The Brundtland Report was primarily concerned with sustainable development, which they believed was both achievable and desirable. Their notion of sustainability is based on the idea that if resources are used in the present, they will not be available in the future. As a result, the conventional definition of sustainable development now reads as follows:
“Development that meets current demands without jeopardising future generations’ ability to meet their own needs”
This idea was enshrined in the European Union Treaties of Maastricht and Amsterdam and the Rio Declaration and Agenda 21, adopted by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro from June 3 to 14, 1992. The European Community and its Member States signed the Rio Declaration and Agenda 21, pledging to put the Rio Declaration and Agenda 21 into action as soon as possible.
The Brundtland Report
The World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), established in 1983, released a report titled «Our Common Future» in 1987. After the Commission’s chairwoman, Gro Harlem Brundtland, the document became known as the “Brundtland Report.” It established the guiding concepts for sustainable development as we know it today.
According to the Brundtland Report, serious worldwide environmental problems result from the South’s vast poverty and the North’s non-sustainable consumption and production habits. It demanded a plan that brought development and the environment together — what is now known as “sustainable development.” Sustainable development is described as “development that meets current demands without jeopardising future generations’ ability to fulfil their own needs.” The UN General Assembly debated the report in 1989 and resolved to hold a UN Conference on Environment and Development.
The importance of this paper in addressing the issue of sustainability is widely acknowledged. Seven critical imperatives for sustainable development were identified in the report:
- Reviving growth
- Changing the quality of growth
- Meeting basic needs for jobs, food, energy, water, and sanitation;
- Maintaining a sustainable population level
- Conserving and enhancing the resource base
- Reorienting technology and risk management
- Merging environment and economics in decision-making
It also stressed that the current state of technology and social organisation, notably a lack of integrated social planning, hinders the world’s ability to meet human needs both now and in the future.
In order to address common global concerns, this paper presented institutional and legal proposals for change. There is a growing consensus that businesses and governments should embrace moral responsibility for social welfare and promoting individuals’ interests in economic transactions when they work together (Amba-Rao, 1993).
However, the Bruntland report established the important assumption – which has subsequently been accepted – that sustainable development was conceivable, and the argument has since centred on how to accomplish it. As a result, there has been a constant debate about sustainable development since the World Commission published the Bruntland Report on Environment and Development in 1987. Collaboration, partnerships, and stakeholder involvement have also received a lot of attention. However, it is widely acknowledged that development is desirable and that sustainable development is possible, with a concurrent focus on how to achieve it. However, just what such sustainable development entails has been less apparent, and any review must begin with a consideration of what these phrases entail.
The concept of sustainability is often misunderstood: for purists, it means nothing more than stasis – the ability to continue in the same way – but it is frequently misunderstood to mean sustainable development (Marsden 2000; Hart & Milstein 2003), and the terms sustainability and sustainable development are often used interchangeably. For us, the notion of sustainability is concerned with stasis (Aras & Crowther 2008a); at the corporate level, if progress is conceivable without risking that stasis, this is a benefit rather than a necessary component of that sustainability.
Furthermore, sustainable development is frequently misunderstood as exclusively focusing on environmental issues. In actuality, sustainable development policies cover three broad policy areas: economic, ecological and social. Several UN papers, most recently the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document, refer to economic development, social development, and environmental protection as “interdependent and mutually reinforcing pillars” of sustainable development.