Creating sustainable futures/CSF101/Defining sustainability/Defining sustainable development

One of the most significant challenges with sustainability is that it is interpreted widely and often misunderstood as having a purely environmental or ‘green’ focus. In fact, sustainable development, and sustainability, is essentially focused on meeting the biological and emotional needs of humans in a way that can continue indefinitely; that is, in a way that is sustainable.

We’ll consider two of the most widely used definitions here. The first is the Brundtland Commission’s definition of sustainable development, which arguably establishes a set of guiding values. Secondly, we’ll consider the Natural Step’s scientific definition which is founded upon the agreed scientific principles you’ve learnt about already.