Sustainability

Sustainable development / SCP

Sustainable development is an overarching objective of the European Union.The EU’s Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS) is the top level strategy to ensure a better quality of life for the present generation and for those to come.

It promotes a dynamic economy, high employment rates, high level of education, health protection, social and territorial cohesion and environmental protection. All these objectives have to be reached in a peaceful and secure world which respects cultural diversity.

The European Commission’s website writes: “Sustainable development will not be brought about by policies only: it must be taken up by society at large as a principle guiding the many choices each citizen makes every day, as well as the big political and economic decisions that have an impact on this. This requires profound changes in thinking, in economic and social structures and in consumption and production patterns.”

These changes can be difficult to make, particularly when faced with more immediate issues. Therefore, implementing sustainable development can often mean compromises between economic, social and environmental aspects.

We are currently far from achieving sustainable development. Furthermore many key social and environmental indicators go in the wrong direction.