Defining sustainable development

Sustainable development has become the buzz phrase of our times and can be neatly encapsulated in the following statements.

‘Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.’

(Our Common Future – The Brundtland Report - World Commission of Environment and Development – 1987)

‘A better quality of life for everyone, now and for generations to come.’

(A better quality of life: a strategy for sustainable development in the UK Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions – 1999)

Global drivers for sustainable development

• Global population: doubling every 40 years.
• Material consumption: doubling every 20 years.
• Global warming: the 1990s were the warmest decade in the 20th century.
• Inefficiencies: it takes 20 kg of raw materials to produce 1 kg of ‘bought goods’.
• Dwindling resources: in 30 to 50 years, the demand of oil and gas will outstrip supply.
• Sheer volume: construction is responsible for 40% of global energy use and raw materials.
• Demographic necessity: in the next 50 years, we will need to erect as many buildings as we have in the last 5000 years.
• Energy use: 50% of UK energy consumption is used in the operational phase of buildings.
• Transport: 10% of national energy consumption is in the production and transport of construction materials.