Sustainable development

Sustainable development

Sustainable development resolves the conflict between three different goals: economic prosperity, environmental quality and social equity. These are sometimes known as the 'triple bottom line'.

Bear in mind the relationship between these three 'lines'. Without enduring environmental quality there can be no social equity and without social equity there can be no economic prosperity. Put another way – economic prosperity, if it is the priority, can and does destroy social equity and environmental quality – and therefore economic prosperity in the the long term.

The priorities of sustainable development
When thinking of the three dimensions it is important to remember that the economy is part of human society which in turn is part of nature. The priority of business tends to be economic bottom line, the priority of politics is social sustainability and so environmental sustainability often gets lost in this mix.

In the long term what is good for the envionment must be good for society and good for the economy. If priority goes to economic factors over social or environmental factors the outcome is unsustainable.

Natural capitalism
In their book Natural Capitalism Hawkins, Lovins and Lovins provide a strategy for sustainable development that involves the following:

Radical resource productivity
This minimises resource use and reduces waste at the same time as creating employment.

Biomimicry
By redesigning industrial processes to mimic nature where nothing is wasted and everything grows and sustains itself within continuous closed cycles.

Service and flow
This is reinventing the old system of goods and purchases to one of service and flow. Affluence will not be a matter of quantity – how much goods you acquire – but rather a matter the quality, utility and performance of the services that sustain your well-being.

Investment in natural capital
To ensure the ongoing health of the environment which sustains us we will need to invest in the environment to repair, restore and sustain it.