2.3 The Concept of Sustainability
19
In current schemes for implementing sustainable development, such as the Swiss
or German guidelines (Steinemann et al., 2019; Die Bundesregierung, 2018), this
type of criteria is no longer used. The guidelines now refer directly and extensively
to the Agenda 2030 and the SDGs and define country-specific “action areas.” Often,
defined goals include increasing resource efficiency as well as reducing material and
energy footprints of production and consumption, internalization of external costs
(see next subsection), increasing generation of energy from renewable sources, and
the inclusion of various aspects of sustainable development in school curricula and
university study programs, as well as social security and gender equality.
In an official evaluation of the current Swiss Sustainable Development Guidelines published in 2019 (Steinemann et al., 2019), it is stated that the actions
indicated in the action areas have not been systematically and transparently selected,
that how the actions may or may not be carried out is not governed by the
Guidelines, and that there is no controlling that would indicate the actual progress
(or lack thereof) toward the goals. This shows that sustainable development still
is a fundamental challenge and that a real transformation of the resource- and
energy-intensive socioeconomic systems of modern industrialized countries is not
yet underway.
2.3.2 Sustainability and the Economy
Historically and only until fairly recently, the environment (and to some extent
human health) had been on the margins of economics. Free goods such as air, water,
and biodiversity were not valued but rather free of charge with nature assumed
to provide practically any amount needed. They were simply not a subject of
economics since they were not understood as being limited resources. Following
this line of thinking, nature is expected to always deliver the needed resources and
absorb the resulting waste, even for a growing human population with increasing
demands. No thought was given to the carrying capacity of the planet. In the early
1970s, the limitations of natural resources and the absorptive capacity of ecosystems
began to be discussed more widely as factors limiting development. This discussion
started a systematic examination of economics and environmental problems (e.g.,
Frey (1972) and Meadows et al. (1972)). Today, natural resources such as raw
materials, clean water, and clean air are undoubtedly perceived as scarce resources,
even though in many places there is no functioning market governing their extraction
and use.
In the 1970s, national economic markets began to show that private companies
were creating additional societal costs by burdening the environment. These were
not taken into account in the companies’ own balance sheets because they were
being carried by the general public. These are referred to as external costs, and,
more exactly, they are external effects that occur when someone obtains a benefit at
the expense of other individuals or the greater society without paying. Even today,
health and environmental costs are often only partially included in a company’s
cost calculations. If external costs for the use of environmental resources during the
19
In current schemes for implementing sustainable development, such as the Swiss
or German guidelines (Steinemann et al., 2019; Die Bundesregierung, 2018), this
type of criteria is no longer used. The guidelines now refer directly and extensively
to the Agenda 2030 and the SDGs and define country-specific “action areas.” Often,
defined goals include increasing resource efficiency as well as reducing material and
energy footprints of production and consumption, internalization of external costs
(see next subsection), increasing generation of energy from renewable sources, and
the inclusion of various aspects of sustainable development in school curricula and
university study programs, as well as social security and gender equality.
In an official evaluation of the current Swiss Sustainable Development Guidelines published in 2019 (Steinemann et al., 2019), it is stated that the actions
indicated in the action areas have not been systematically and transparently selected,
that how the actions may or may not be carried out is not governed by the
Guidelines, and that there is no controlling that would indicate the actual progress
(or lack thereof) toward the goals. This shows that sustainable development still
is a fundamental challenge and that a real transformation of the resource- and
energy-intensive socioeconomic systems of modern industrialized countries is not
yet underway.
2.3.2 Sustainability and the Economy
Historically and only until fairly recently, the environment (and to some extent
human health) had been on the margins of economics. Free goods such as air, water,
and biodiversity were not valued but rather free of charge with nature assumed
to provide practically any amount needed. They were simply not a subject of
economics since they were not understood as being limited resources. Following
this line of thinking, nature is expected to always deliver the needed resources and
absorb the resulting waste, even for a growing human population with increasing
demands. No thought was given to the carrying capacity of the planet. In the early
1970s, the limitations of natural resources and the absorptive capacity of ecosystems
began to be discussed more widely as factors limiting development. This discussion
started a systematic examination of economics and environmental problems (e.g.,
Frey (1972) and Meadows et al. (1972)). Today, natural resources such as raw
materials, clean water, and clean air are undoubtedly perceived as scarce resources,
even though in many places there is no functioning market governing their extraction
and use.
In the 1970s, national economic markets began to show that private companies
were creating additional societal costs by burdening the environment. These were
not taken into account in the companies’ own balance sheets because they were
being carried by the general public. These are referred to as external costs, and,
more exactly, they are external effects that occur when someone obtains a benefit at
the expense of other individuals or the greater society without paying. Even today,
health and environmental costs are often only partially included in a company’s
cost calculations. If external costs for the use of environmental resources during the