Editing Sustainable development (section)

== Pathways ==
{{Further|Sustainability#Transition}}
[[File:Sustainable_development_-_6_central_capacities.png|thumb|upright=1.25|Sustainable development requires six central capacities.<ref name=":7">{{Cite journal |last1=Clark |first1=William |last2=Harley |first2=Alicia |date=2020 |title=Sustainability Science: Toward a Synthesis |journal=[[Annual Review of Environment and Resources]] |volume=45 |issue=1 |pages=331–86 |doi=10.1146/annurev-environ-012420-043621 |doi-access=free}} {{CC-notice|cc=by4}}</ref>]]Six interdependent capacities are deemed to be necessary for the successful pursuit of sustainable development.<ref name=":7" /> These are the capacities to measure progress towards sustainable development; promote equity within and between generations; adapt to shocks and surprises; transform the system onto more sustainable development pathways; link knowledge with action for sustainability; and to devise governance arrangements that allow people to work together.

During the MDG era (year 2000 to 2015), the key objective of sustainable development was poverty reduction to be reached through [[economic growth]] and participation in the [[global trade]] system.<ref name=":5" /> The SDGs take a much more comprehensive approach to sustainable development than the MDGs did. They offer a more people-centered development agenda. Out of the [[List of Sustainable Development Goal targets and indicators|17 SDGs]], for example, 11 goals contain targets related to equity, equality or inclusion, and SDG 10 is solely devoted to addressing inequality within and among countries.<ref name=":5" />

=== Improving on environmental sustainability ===
{{Further|Human impact on the environment|Ecological footprint}} An unsustainable situation occurs when [[natural capital]] (the total of nature's resources) is used up faster than it can be replenished.<ref name=":0" />{{rp|58}} Sustainability requires that human activity only uses nature's resources at a rate at which they can be replenished naturally. The concept of sustainable development is intertwined with the concept of [[carrying capacity]]. Theoretically, the long-term result of [[environmental degradation]] is the inability to sustain human life.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last1=Nayeripour |first1=Majid |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O9CPDwAAQBAJ&dq=An+unsustainable+situation+occurs+when+natural+capital+(the+total+of+nature's+resources)+is+used+up+faster+than+it+can+be+replenished.+Sustainability+requires+that+human+activity+only+uses+nature's+resources+at+a+rate+at+which+they+can+be+replenished+naturally.+The+concept+of+sustainable+development+is+intertwined+with+the+concept+of+carrying+capacity.+Theoretically,+the+long-term+result+of+environmental+degradation+is+the+inability+to+sustain+human+life&pg=PA58 |title=Sustainable Growth and Applications in Renewable Energy Sources |last2=Kheshti |first2=Mostafa |date=2011-12-02 |publisher=BoD – Books on Demand |isbn=978-953-307-408-5 |page=58 }}[[File:CC-BY icon.svg|50x50px]] Text was copied from this source, which is available under a [[creativecommons:by/4.0/|Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 International License]] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171016050101/https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/|date=16 October 2017}}</ref>

Important operational principles of sustainable development were published by [[Herman Daly]] in 1990: renewable resources should provide a [[sustainable yield]] (the rate of harvest should not exceed the rate of regeneration); for non-renewable resources there should be equivalent development of renewable substitutes; waste generation should not exceed the assimilative capacity of the environment.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Daly |first1=H.E. |year=1990 |title=Toward some operational principles of sustainable development |journal=Ecological Economics |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=1–6 |doi=10.1016/0921-8009(90)90010-r|bibcode=1990EcoEc...2....1D }}</ref>

In 2019, a summary for policymakers of the [[Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services|largest, most comprehensive study to date]] of [[biodiversity]] and [[ecosystem service]]s was published by the [[Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services]]. It recommended that human civilization will need a transformative change, including [[sustainable agriculture]], reductions in [[Consumption (economics)|consumption]] and waste, fishing quotas and collaborative water management.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.ipbes.net/sites/default/files/downloads/spm_unedited_advance_for_posting_htn.pdf |title=Summary for policymakers of the global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services |date=6 May 2019 |publisher=the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services |access-date=10 May 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Deutsche Welle |first1=Deutsche |date=6 May 2019 |title=Why Biodiversity Loss Hurts Humans as Much as Climate Change Does |url=https://www.ecowatch.com/biodiversity-loss-human-health-2636410357.html |access-date=10 May 2019 |agency=Ecowatch}}</ref>

[[Environmental impact of agriculture|Environmental problems]] associated with [[industrial agriculture]] and [[agribusiness]] are now being addressed through approaches such as [[sustainable agriculture]], [[organic farming]] and more [[Sustainable business|sustainable business practices]].<ref>[http://www.wbcsd.org/templates/TemplateWBCSD5/layout.asp?MenuID=1 World Business Council for Sustainable Development] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090410074308/http://www.wbcsd.org/templates/TemplateWBCSD5/layout.asp?MenuID=1|date=10 April 2009}} This web site has multiple articles on [[World Business Council for Sustainable Development|WBCSD]] contributions to sustainable development. Retrieved 7 April 2009.</ref> At the local level there are various movements working towards [[sustainable food system]]s which may include less meat consumption, [[local food]] production, [[slow food]], [[sustainable gardening]], and [[organic gardening]].<ref>Holmgren, D. (March 2005). [http://www.sbpermaculture.org/Suburbs_Holmgren.html "Retrofitting the suburbs for sustainability."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090415103213/http://www.sbpermaculture.org/Suburbs_Holmgren.html|date=15 April 2009}} CSIRO Sustainability Network. Retrieved 7 July 2009.</ref> The environmental effects of different dietary patterns depend on many factors, including the proportion of animal and plant foods consumed and the method of food production.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=McMichael |first1=Anthony J |last2=Powles |first2=John W |last3=Butler |first3=Colin D |last4=Uauy |first4=Ricardo |title=Food, livestock production, energy, climate change, and health |journal=The Lancet |date=October 2007 |volume=370 |issue=9594 |pages=1253–1263 |doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(07)61256-2 |pmid=17868818 |hdl=1885/38056 |s2cid=9316230 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Baroni |first1=L |last2=Cenci |first2=L |last3=Tettamanti |first3=M |last4=Berati |first4=M |title=Evaluating the environmental impact of various dietary patterns combined with different food production systems |journal=European Journal of Clinical Nutrition |date=1 February 2007 |volume=61 |issue=2 |pages=279–286 |doi=10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602522 |pmid=17035955 |s2cid=16387344 |doi-access=free }}</ref> [[File:Highlight Findings of the WA S0E 2007 report.gif|upright=1.7|thumb|Ecological footprint for different nations compared to their [[Human Development Index]] (2007)]]
As global population and affluence have increased, so has the use of various materials increased in volume, diversity, and distance transported. By 2050, humanity could consume an estimated 140 billion tons of minerals, ores, fossil fuels and biomass per year (three times its current amount) unless the economic growth rate is decoupled from the rate of natural [[resource consumption]].<ref>UNEP (2011). [http://www.resourcepanel.org/reports/decoupling-natural-resource-use-and-environmental-impacts-economic-growth Decoupling Natural Resource Use and Environmental Impacts from Economic Growth] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220120134055/https://resourcepanel.org/reports/decoupling-natural-resource-use-and-environmental-impacts-economic-growth |date=20 January 2022 }}. {{ISBN|978-92-807-3167-5}}. Retrieved 30 November 2011.</ref>

Sustainable use of materials has targeted the idea of [[Dematerialization (economics)|dematerialization]], converting the linear path of materials (extraction, use, disposal in landfill) to a [[Material flow accounting|circular material flow]] that reuses materials as much as possible, much like the cycling and reuse of waste in nature.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Anderberg|first1=S|year=1998|title=Industrial metabolism and linkages between economics, ethics, and the environment|journal=Ecological Economics|volume=24|issue=2–3|pages=311–320|doi=10.1016/s0921-8009(97)00151-1}}</ref> This way of thinking is expressed in the concept of [[circular economy]], which employs [[reuse]], [[Sharing economy|sharing]], repair, refurbishment, [[remanufacturing]] and [[recycling]] to create a closed-loop system, minimizing the use of [[Resource depletion|resource inputs]] and the creation of [[Waste minimisation|waste]], pollution and carbon emissions.<ref name="Geissdoerfer 757–768">{{cite journal |last1=Geissdoerfer |first1=Martin |last2=Savaget |first2=Paulo |last3=Bocken |first3=Nancy M.P. |last4=Hultink |first4=Erik Jan |title=The Circular Economy – A new sustainability paradigm? |journal=Journal of Cleaner Production |date=February 2017 |volume=143 |pages=757–768 |doi=10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.12.048 |bibcode=2017JCPro.143..757G |s2cid=157449142 |url=https://dro.dur.ac.uk/29108/1/29108.pdf }}</ref> The [[European Commission]] has adopted an ambitious [[Circular Economy Action Plan]] in 2020, which aims at making sustainable products the norm in the EU.<ref>European Commission (2020). "[https://ec.europa.eu/environment/strategy/circular-economy-action-plan_en Circular economy action plan]". {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220120070301/https://ec.europa.eu/environment/strategy/circular-economy-action-plan_en |date=20 January 2022 }}. Retrieved 10 November 2021.</ref><ref>{{cite web|title= 52020DC0098 |url=https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM%3A2020%3A98%3AFIN|access-date=2021-11-09|website=EUR-Lex |language=en}}</ref>
===Improving on economic and social aspects===
{{Further|Corporate sustainability|Sustainable business}}

It has been suggested that because of the [[rural poverty]] and [[overexploitation]], environmental resources should be treated as important economic assets, called [[natural capital]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Barbier |first=Edward B. |url=http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/economics/economic-development-and-growth/natural-resources-and-economic-development?format=HB |title=Natural Resources and Economic Development |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2006 |isbn=9780521706513 |location= |pages=44–45 |access-date=8 April 2014}}</ref> Economic development has traditionally required a growth in the gross domestic product. This model of unlimited personal and GDP growth may be over. Sustainable development may involve improvements in the quality of life for many but may necessitate a decrease in [[resource consumption]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Brown|first=L. R.|title=World on the Edge|publisher=Norton|year=2011|isbn=978-0-393-08029-2|series=Earth Policy Institute}}</ref> "Growth" generally ignores the direct effect that the environment may have on social welfare, whereas "development" takes it into account.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/243768263 |title=Sustainable development concepts |last=Pezzey |first=John |publisher=The World Bank |date=November 1992 |website=Researchgate |access-date=16 October 2022}}</ref>

As early as the 1970s, the concept of sustainability was used to describe an economy "in equilibrium with basic ecological support systems".<ref>[[Robert L. Stivers|Stivers, R.]] 1976. The Sustainable Society: Ethics and Economic Growth. Philadelphia: [[Westminster John Knox Press|Westminster Press]].</ref> Scientists in many fields have highlighted ''[[The Limits to Growth]]'',<ref>Meadows, D.H., D.L. Meadows, J. Randers, and W.W. Behrens III. 1972. The Limits to Growth. Universe Books, New York, NY. {{ISBN|0-87663-165-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Meadows|first1=D.H.|title=Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update|last2=Randers|first2=Jørgen|last3=Meadows|first3=D.L.|publisher=Chelsea Green Publishing|year=2004|isbn=978-1-931498-58-6}}</ref> and economists have presented alternatives, for example a '[[steady-state economy]]', to address concerns over the impacts of expanding human development on the planet.<ref name="hd01">{{cite book |last=Daly |first=Herman E. |author-link=Herman Daly |title=Steady-state economics |date=1992 |publisher=Earthscan Publications |edition=2nd |location=London}}</ref> In 1987, the economist [[Edward Barbier]] published the study ''The Concept of Sustainable Economic Development'', where he recognized that goals of environmental conservation and economic development are not conflicting and can be reinforcing each other.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Barbier|first=E.|year=1987|title=The Concept of Sustainable Economic Development|journal=Environmental Conservation|volume=14|issue=2|pages=101–110|doi=10.1017/S0376892900011449|bibcode=1987EnvCo..14..101B |s2cid=145595791 }}</ref>

A [[World Bank]] study from 1999 concluded that based on the theory of genuine savings (defined as "traditional net savings less the value of [[resource depletion]] and environmental degradation plus the value of investment in [[human capital]]"), policymakers have many possible interventions to increase sustainability, in [[macroeconomics]] or purely environmental.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Hamilton|first1=K.|last2=Clemens|first2=M.|year=1999|title=Genuine savings rates in developing countries|journal=World Bank Economic Review|volume=13|issue=2|pages=333–356|citeseerx=10.1.1.452.7532|doi=10.1093/wber/13.2.333}}</ref> Several studies have noted that efficient policies for renewable energy and pollution are compatible with increasing human welfare, eventually reaching a golden-rule{{Clarify|date=September 2021}} steady state.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Ayong Le Kama|first=A. D.|year=2001|title=Sustainable growth renewable resources, and pollution|journal=Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control|volume=25|issue=12|pages=1911–1918|doi=10.1016/S0165-1889(00)00007-5}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Chichilnisky|first1=G.|last2=Heal|first2=G.|last3=Beltratti|first3=A.|year=1995|title=A Green Golden Rule|journal=Economics Letters|volume=49|issue=2|pages=175–179|doi=10.1016/0165-1765(95)00662-Y|s2cid=154964259|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Endress|first1=L.|last2=Roumasset|first2=J.|year=1994|title=Golden rules for sustainable resource management|url=http://www.economics.hawaii.edu/research/workingpapers/88-98/WP_93-19.pdf|journal=Economic Record|volume=70|issue=210|pages=266–277|doi=10.1111/j.1475-4932.1994.tb01847.x}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Endress|first1=L.|last2=Roumasset|first2=J.|last3=Zhou|first3=T.|year=2005|title=Sustainable Growth with Environmental Spillovers|journal=Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization|volume=58|issue=4|pages=527–547|citeseerx=10.1.1.529.5305|doi=10.1016/j.jebo.2004.09.003}}</ref>

A meta review in 2002 looked at environmental and economic valuations and found a "lack of concrete understanding of what "sustainability policies" might entail in practice".<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Pezzey|first1=John C. V.|last2=Michael A.|first2=Toman|year=2002|title=The Economics of Sustainability: A Review of Journal Articles |website=Resources for the Future |url=http://www.rff.org/documents/rff-dp-02-03.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140408214704/http://www.rff.org/documents/rff-dp-02-03.pdf|archive-date=8 April 2014|access-date=8 April 2014}}</ref> A study concluded in 2007 that knowledge, manufactured and human capital (health and education) has not compensated for the degradation of natural capital in many parts of the world.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Dasgupta|first=P.|year=2007|title=The idea of sustainable development|journal=[[Sustainability Science]]|volume=2|issue=1|pages=5–11|doi=10.1007/s11625-007-0024-y|bibcode=2007SuSc....2....5D |s2cid=154597956}}</ref> It has been suggested that intergenerational equity can be incorporated into a sustainable development and decision making, as has become common in economic valuations of [[Economic analysis of climate change|climate economics]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Heal|first=G.|year=2009|title=Climate Economics: A Meta-Review and Some Suggestions for Future Research|journal=Review of Environmental Economics and Policy|volume=3|issue=1|pages=4–21|doi=10.1093/reep/ren014|s2cid=154917782}}</ref>

The [[World Business Council for Sustainable Development]] published a Vision 2050 document in 2021 to show "How business can lead the transformations the world needs". The vision states that "we envision a world in which 9+billion people can live well, within [[planetary boundaries]], by 2050."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vision 2050 - Time to transform |url=https://timetotransform.biz/ |access-date=2022-03-29 |publisher=WBCSD |language=en-US}}</ref> This report was highlighted by ''[[The Guardian]]'' as "the largest concerted corporate sustainability action plan to date – include reversing the damage done to ecosystems, addressing rising [[greenhouse gas emissions]] and ensuring societies move to sustainable agriculture."<ref name="Wills">{{cite news |last1=Wills |first1=Jackie |title=World Business Council for Sustainable Development: Vision 2050 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/sustainability-case-studies-world-business-council |access-date=17 May 2022 |work=The Guardian |date=15 May 2014 |language=en}}</ref>