10.4 Sustainable development in a global context

Sustainable development aims to balance economic growth, social progress, and environmental protection. This global approach tackles issues like poverty, inequality, and climate change through frameworks like the UN's Sustainable Development Goals and concepts like circular economy and eco-innovation.

Businesses play a crucial role in sustainable development through practices like corporate social responsibility and fair trade. Measuring environmental impact with tools like ecological footprints helps track progress towards sustainability goals in urban areas and beyond.

Sustainable Development Frameworks

Global Goals for Sustainable Development

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• Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set of 17 interlinked global goals adopted by the United Nations in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity
  • Includes goals such as no poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, quality education, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy, decent work and economic growth, industry, innovation and infrastructure, reduced inequalities, sustainable cities and communities, responsible consumption and production, climate action, life below water, life on land, peace, justice and strong institutions, and partnerships for the goals
  • Provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future
• Circular economy an economic system that aims to eliminate waste and the continual use of resources by employing reuse, sharing, repair, refurbishment, remanufacturing and recycling to create a closed-loop system
  • Minimizes resource inputs and waste, pollution, and carbon emissions
  • Focuses on keeping products and materials in use for as long as possible (extending product lifetimes through repair and reuse) and regenerating natural systems (using renewable energy and materials)
• Green economy an economy that aims at reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities, and that aims for sustainable development without degrading the environment
  • Focuses on low carbon, resource efficient and socially inclusive economic growth
  • Includes investing in natural capital (such as forests, wetlands, and biodiversity), renewable energy, and clean technologies
• Eco-innovation the development and application of a business model that incorporates sustainability throughout all business operations based on life cycle thinking and in cooperation with partners across the value chain
  • Involves introducing new production processes, products, and services that minimize negative impacts on the environment while enhancing competitiveness and profitability
  • Examples include developing biodegradable packaging materials, creating products from recycled materials, and implementing renewable energy systems in manufacturing facilities

Sustainable Business Practices

• Corporate social responsibility (CSR) a self-regulating business model that helps a company be socially accountable to itself, its stakeholders, and the public
  • Encompasses sustainability, social impact and ethics
  • Companies practicing CSR operate in ways that enhance society and the environment, instead of contributing negatively to them
  • Examples include reducing carbon footprints, improving labor policies, participating in fairtrade, and engaging in charitable giving
• Fair trade a trading partnership, based on dialogue, transparency and respect, that seeks greater equity in international trade
  • Contributes to sustainable development by offering better trading conditions to, and securing the rights of, marginalized producers and workers
  • Ensures producers receive prices that cover their average costs of sustainable production, provides a fair trade premium that producers can invest in development, and enables pre-financing for producers who require it
• Sustainable agriculture farming practices that meet society's current food and textile needs, without compromising the ability for current or future generations to meet their needs
  • Focuses on promoting the health of the environment, economic profitability, and social and economic equity
  • Includes practices such as crop rotation, cover crops, soil enrichment, and natural pest predators
  • Aims to conserve water, reduce erosion and pollution, promote biodiversity, and enhance ecosystem services

Measuring and Reducing Environmental Impact

• Urban sustainability the process of developing and maintaining cities and urban areas in a way that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs
  • Involves balancing economic, social, and environmental factors to create livable, prosperous, and resilient cities
  • Includes initiatives such as green building, sustainable transportation, waste reduction and recycling, urban agriculture, and green infrastructure (urban forests, parks, wetlands)
• Ecological footprint a measure of human demand on the Earth's ecosystems and natural resources
  • Calculates how much land and water area a human population requires to produce the resources it consumes and to absorb its carbon dioxide emissions, using prevailing technology
  • Measures the supply of nature and compares it to human demand, revealing whether we are living within our ecological means or exceeding the planet's regenerative capacity
  • Helps individuals, organizations, and governments assess their environmental impact, set goals, and track progress towards sustainability