1.1 Goals for sustainable development

Sustainability is defined through 3 overall and interconnected areas: Environment, social and economy.

That was the definition from the Brundtland report from 1987. And it is still used around the world, i.e. some companies have a triple bottom line. This means not only that the economy is measured, but also that the social sphere is monitored as well as the impact on the environment.

In 2015, almost all leaders around the world signed a common and agreed plan, the Sustainable Development Goals, which are an urgent call to action from all countries - developed countries and developing countries - in partnership. They recognize that eradicating poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our parks and forests.

Modern use of the concept of sustainability is broad and difficult to define precisely, but the SDG makes sustainability a way of acting and measuring.

Many environmentalists and ecologists argue that sustainability is achieved through the balance between species and the resources in their environment. As this is typically practiced in natural resource management, the goal is to maintain this equilibrium, meaning that the available resources must not be depleted faster than the resources are naturally generated.

Regardless of whether the economic aspect is taken into account or not, sustainability is about a balance and to a large extent about the existing cooperation between the biosphere and human civilization.

The SDGs are 17 overall goals and 169 sub-goals. These are all a picture of areas around the world that are out of balance. And all targets must be reached by 2030.

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