Sustainable development (SD) refers to meeting the needs of today without jeopardizing future generations’ ability to meet theirs – this definition forms the foundation of UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Climate change, economic slowdown and conflicts lingering from pandemic can obstruct progress towards meeting 17 SDGs. What steps can be taken?

Environment

Environment refers to all living and nonliving elements that impact life on Earth, from animals, plants and forests to water sources, sunlight exposure, land areas and air. Environmental sustainability seeks to preserve these resources to maintain the ecological equilibrium of our planet.

Sustainable development can be difficult, as it requires taking into account both environmental and economic needs. Furthermore, its implementation affects geopolitical boundaries and requires collaboration across agencies and levels of government.

Some of the world’s most essential goals include alleviating poverty and hunger of all kinds, providing healthy lives to people worldwide and protecting the environment. But these objectives won’t be achieved unless there is a commitment to address root causes of inequality, conflict and insecurity; and businesses like Novozymes must play their part by taking significant steps toward this end.

Economy

Economic sustainability refers to the ability to generate wealth without jeopardizing other goals, like social or ecological welfare. A sustainable economy ensures workers get adequate wages in order to support themselves and their families; natural resources are utilized efficiently so as to avoid pollution or permanent damage; public policies promote equal opportunity.

Economic sustainability can be difficult to achieve due to tensions between economic activity and environmental protection. For example, efforts to combat poverty could increase food production at the expense of biodiversity loss, necessitating difficult decisions with winners and losers (Espey 2015; Mensah and Enu-Kwesi 2018).

In 1987, the World Commission on Environment and Development’s Brundtland Report introduced the concept of sustainable development through Our Common Future. Since then, many governments and businesses have embraced sustainable development principles, leading to reduced environmental impacts, greater consumer awareness of sustainability concerns and an increased commitment to investing in innovative sustainable initiatives.

Society

Sustainable development depends upon societies that foster tolerance, social cohesion, access to education and healthcare, decent work opportunities and encourage tolerance of other views. Furthermore, natural resources must be utilized sustainably – this can be accomplished by adopting policies which support sustainability as well as adopting economic models that coincide with ecological processes.

Sustainable societies use renewable energy sources, reduce waste levels, and seek to understand and protect the environment around them. Furthermore, such societies should abide by the polluter pays principle, where companies are required to pay for any environmental damages they cause rather than passing along costs to other businesses or citizens.

Sustainable development involves both governments and private companies working in collaboration, with individuals being educated about its principles and encouraged to join its goals through local initiatives like recycling programs or community gardens.

Ethics

People are becoming more aware of how quickly our planet’s natural resources can be depleted, which necessitates sustainable development strategies to preserve cultural heritage and limit pollution. Sustainable development includes not only limiting pollution but ensuring everyone has access to jobs, education and health care – as well as protecting it all together.

By the first decade of the new millennium, greater scientific understanding about planetary limits had re-ignited interest in sustainability and raised concerns over non-negotiable environmental constraints on human activity. Kate Raworth from Oxfam developed an effective model for sustainable development which combined environmental boundaries and essential needs as key components.

Some scholars have seen sustainability as having three intertwined circles, often alliteratively known as “people, planet, profit.” Others have focused on functional integrity – maintaining that sustainability must involve ongoing decisions as well as constant monitoring and reviewing assumptions – with various ethical considerations applied such as justice (distributive fairness), responsibility (professional moral and causal), quality of life etc being applied as ethical criteria to this concept.