New Perspectives on the Concept of Sustainable Development …
513
At this point, Carson’s (2002) iconic Silent Spring sought to draw attention to
environmental awareness and impacts on the planet by human behavior. The same
year dates back to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency—EPA in the
United States in 1970; followed by the first major meeting of heads of state organized
by the United Nations to discuss the environmental issue. With the participation of
113 countries, the UN Conference on Human Environment took place in Stockholm,
Sweden and was responsible for the launch of the report “The Limits to Growth”,
which drew international attention to issues related to environmental degradation and
pollution, not limited to political borders. According to Meadows et al. (1972) when
imposing limits on growth, the report advocates a “global system that is sustainable”.
A few years later, economist Georgescu-Roegen (2012) became known by the
so-called ecological economy (or bioeconomy), criticizing the neoclassical, mechanistic economy and warning that if we maintained the standards of production and
consumption of the time, we would reach an irreversible pattern. With this, became
the alert that society must have ecological stability, besides being socioeconomically
sustainable, capable of meeting the basic conditions of humanity (Goldsmith 1972;
Meadows and Randers 2012).
At this point, on his first records, Sachs (1978) advocates the concept of “Ecodevelopment” as a development that aims to harmonize social and economic objectives
with an ecologically correct management, in a spirit of solidarity with future generations (Sachs 1978). As an advisor to the United Nations Environment Program
(UNEP), Sachs (1978) minimizes the notion of “trade-offs” between environmental management and economic growth and defends “a different, environmentally
prudent, sustainable and socially responsible growth.” Yet, the term sustainability
would be popularized only from the 1980s (Pisani 2006), with increased global
attention to climate issues.
Sachs’s perspective (2000) was in line with the UN World Commission’s Our
Common Future Report on Environment and Development which attested “SD as
the development that meets current needs without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs” (Tolba and Biswas 2013).
In the same year, Elkington and Burke (1987) introduces the notions of social and
environmental responsibility to the corporate business. Elkington (2012) follows the
same line of Sachs (2009) and defends the plurality of the concept of Sustainability
which he calls the Triple Bottom Line, as described by the authors:
Starting from the concept of ‘bottom line’, popularly used in the business world and that
refers to the economic performance of the company, the author adds the environmental and
social aspects to the evaluation of the results of organizations, since society depends on the
economy and the economy depends on the environment. (Sugahara and Rodrigues 2019,
p. 38)
The sustainability model created by Elkington and Burke (1987) was universally
approved during the 2nd United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, which became known worldwide as Rio Eco 92 (Stockler and Hanashiro 2019;
Novaes 1992). Years later, Sachs (2000) would present different criteria for sustainability, defined as social, cultural, ecological, environmental, territorial, economic,
513
At this point, Carson’s (2002) iconic Silent Spring sought to draw attention to
environmental awareness and impacts on the planet by human behavior. The same
year dates back to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency—EPA in the
United States in 1970; followed by the first major meeting of heads of state organized
by the United Nations to discuss the environmental issue. With the participation of
113 countries, the UN Conference on Human Environment took place in Stockholm,
Sweden and was responsible for the launch of the report “The Limits to Growth”,
which drew international attention to issues related to environmental degradation and
pollution, not limited to political borders. According to Meadows et al. (1972) when
imposing limits on growth, the report advocates a “global system that is sustainable”.
A few years later, economist Georgescu-Roegen (2012) became known by the
so-called ecological economy (or bioeconomy), criticizing the neoclassical, mechanistic economy and warning that if we maintained the standards of production and
consumption of the time, we would reach an irreversible pattern. With this, became
the alert that society must have ecological stability, besides being socioeconomically
sustainable, capable of meeting the basic conditions of humanity (Goldsmith 1972;
Meadows and Randers 2012).
At this point, on his first records, Sachs (1978) advocates the concept of “Ecodevelopment” as a development that aims to harmonize social and economic objectives
with an ecologically correct management, in a spirit of solidarity with future generations (Sachs 1978). As an advisor to the United Nations Environment Program
(UNEP), Sachs (1978) minimizes the notion of “trade-offs” between environmental management and economic growth and defends “a different, environmentally
prudent, sustainable and socially responsible growth.” Yet, the term sustainability
would be popularized only from the 1980s (Pisani 2006), with increased global
attention to climate issues.
Sachs’s perspective (2000) was in line with the UN World Commission’s Our
Common Future Report on Environment and Development which attested “SD as
the development that meets current needs without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs” (Tolba and Biswas 2013).
In the same year, Elkington and Burke (1987) introduces the notions of social and
environmental responsibility to the corporate business. Elkington (2012) follows the
same line of Sachs (2009) and defends the plurality of the concept of Sustainability
which he calls the Triple Bottom Line, as described by the authors:
Starting from the concept of ‘bottom line’, popularly used in the business world and that
refers to the economic performance of the company, the author adds the environmental and
social aspects to the evaluation of the results of organizations, since society depends on the
economy and the economy depends on the environment. (Sugahara and Rodrigues 2019,
p. 38)
The sustainability model created by Elkington and Burke (1987) was universally
approved during the 2nd United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, which became known worldwide as Rio Eco 92 (Stockler and Hanashiro 2019;
Novaes 1992). Years later, Sachs (2000) would present different criteria for sustainability, defined as social, cultural, ecological, environmental, territorial, economic,