228
Jansen et al. 2012; Ulli-Beer 2013; Lang and
Murphy 2014).
Since the works of economists Herman Daly
and Robert Constanza (Constanza 1991; Daly
1991, 1996, 1999; Daly and Farley 2004), the
number of scientists following ecological economics research and studying the public economic
basis of sustainable development has increased
(Brennan 2000; Sachs and Reid 2006; Kumar
2010; Geng et al. 2013, 2016; Allwood 2014;
Geissdoerfer et al. 2017). Nordhaus received
Nobel Prize in 2018 for modelling interactions
between climate change and economic processes.
The basis for which the prize was given to him was
a publication published in 1994 (Nordhaus 1994).
Other publications focused on the economics of
ecosystems and the effects of ecosystem services
on policy (Kumar 2010; Perrings et al. 2011).
The load bearable for the global Earth system
is an important scientific issue to be studied.
Ecological footprint calculation is a widespread method to determine the tipping point of
the Earth system in a global context (Wackernagel
and Rees 1996). Based on this method, the area
required for the total consumption of humanity
was calculated. According to the above authors,
the ecological footprint of the global society has
overloaded the biocapacity of the Earth (global
threshold) increasingly since 1987. As a result,
almost two Earths would have been necessary for
supplying humanity in 2018 to avoid the degradation of the environment. The accuracy of the
calculations was debated, therefore numerous
scientists studied the development of the method.
Wiederman et al. (2006) allocated environmental
load to consumption categories. Scotti et al.
(2009) proved that ecological footprint calculations are useful in environmental policy.
Druckman and Jackson (2009) apart from ecological footprint calculations also studied decoupling in the case of households.
Decoupling: separation of economic growth and
environmental load, i.e., economic growth without
increase in environmental load.
A research group led by Rockström studied
the resilience of the subsystems of the global
Earth system called planetary boundaries
(Rockström et al. 2009). They determined the following 9 boundaries related to the subsystems of
the Earth system: climate change, rate of biodiversity loss (terrestrial and marine), interference
with nitrogen and phosphorous cycles, stratospheric ozone depletion, ocean acidification,
global freshwater use, change in land use, chemical pollution and atmospheric aerosol loading.
The report of Griggs et al. (2013) can be
regarded as a theoretical foundation of sustainable development goals. The idea of the publication is that the stability of our planet should be
integrated into the goals of UN: fighting against
poverty, providing welfare for people and stability for the planet have to be simultaneous efforts.
Their recommendations are presented in Fig. 6.1.
The essence of the paradigm can be found on the
left: the life-support system of Earth ensures the
existence of the society and the operation of the
economy. As a consequence, the new definition
of sustainable development reads as follows:
“Development that meets the needs of the present
while safeguarding Earth’s life-support system,
on which the welfare of current and future generations depends” (Griggs et al. 2013).
Figure 6.1 presents the differences between
MDGs and SDGs. It can be seen that global
changes are recommended and goals to be
achieved by 2030 are grouped around six themes.
• Thriving lives and livelihoods
• Access to education, work and information,
better health care and housing, reduction of
inequalities, sustainable consumption and
production and indirectly fight against poverty
are recommended.
• Sustainable food security
• This includes the elimination of starvation,
long-term food security, sustainability of food
production systems and distribution.
• Sustainable water security
• This includes, on the one hand, access to clean
water for everyone and, on the other hand,
basic sanitation.
• Universal clean energy
• Clean air has to be provided locally, and global
warming has to be slowed down and then
stopped.
6 Steps Towards Realising Global Sustainable Development
Jansen et al. 2012; Ulli-Beer 2013; Lang and
Murphy 2014).
Since the works of economists Herman Daly
and Robert Constanza (Constanza 1991; Daly
1991, 1996, 1999; Daly and Farley 2004), the
number of scientists following ecological economics research and studying the public economic
basis of sustainable development has increased
(Brennan 2000; Sachs and Reid 2006; Kumar
2010; Geng et al. 2013, 2016; Allwood 2014;
Geissdoerfer et al. 2017). Nordhaus received
Nobel Prize in 2018 for modelling interactions
between climate change and economic processes.
The basis for which the prize was given to him was
a publication published in 1994 (Nordhaus 1994).
Other publications focused on the economics of
ecosystems and the effects of ecosystem services
on policy (Kumar 2010; Perrings et al. 2011).
The load bearable for the global Earth system
is an important scientific issue to be studied.
Ecological footprint calculation is a widespread method to determine the tipping point of
the Earth system in a global context (Wackernagel
and Rees 1996). Based on this method, the area
required for the total consumption of humanity
was calculated. According to the above authors,
the ecological footprint of the global society has
overloaded the biocapacity of the Earth (global
threshold) increasingly since 1987. As a result,
almost two Earths would have been necessary for
supplying humanity in 2018 to avoid the degradation of the environment. The accuracy of the
calculations was debated, therefore numerous
scientists studied the development of the method.
Wiederman et al. (2006) allocated environmental
load to consumption categories. Scotti et al.
(2009) proved that ecological footprint calculations are useful in environmental policy.
Druckman and Jackson (2009) apart from ecological footprint calculations also studied decoupling in the case of households.
Decoupling: separation of economic growth and
environmental load, i.e., economic growth without
increase in environmental load.
A research group led by Rockström studied
the resilience of the subsystems of the global
Earth system called planetary boundaries
(Rockström et al. 2009). They determined the following 9 boundaries related to the subsystems of
the Earth system: climate change, rate of biodiversity loss (terrestrial and marine), interference
with nitrogen and phosphorous cycles, stratospheric ozone depletion, ocean acidification,
global freshwater use, change in land use, chemical pollution and atmospheric aerosol loading.
The report of Griggs et al. (2013) can be
regarded as a theoretical foundation of sustainable development goals. The idea of the publication is that the stability of our planet should be
integrated into the goals of UN: fighting against
poverty, providing welfare for people and stability for the planet have to be simultaneous efforts.
Their recommendations are presented in Fig. 6.1.
The essence of the paradigm can be found on the
left: the life-support system of Earth ensures the
existence of the society and the operation of the
economy. As a consequence, the new definition
of sustainable development reads as follows:
“Development that meets the needs of the present
while safeguarding Earth’s life-support system,
on which the welfare of current and future generations depends” (Griggs et al. 2013).
Figure 6.1 presents the differences between
MDGs and SDGs. It can be seen that global
changes are recommended and goals to be
achieved by 2030 are grouped around six themes.
• Thriving lives and livelihoods
• Access to education, work and information,
better health care and housing, reduction of
inequalities, sustainable consumption and
production and indirectly fight against poverty
are recommended.
• Sustainable food security
• This includes the elimination of starvation,
long-term food security, sustainability of food
production systems and distribution.
• Sustainable water security
• This includes, on the one hand, access to clean
water for everyone and, on the other hand,
basic sanitation.
• Universal clean energy
• Clean air has to be provided locally, and global
warming has to be slowed down and then
stopped.
6 Steps Towards Realising Global Sustainable Development