Sustainable Development: Gro Harlem Brundtland, the Prime Minister of Norway in 1987 said that sustainable development is the development that meets the present’s needs without compromising the future generations’ ability to meet their own needs.
Sustainable development differs however from sustainability, the first one is focused on development. Nowadays, sustainable development (SD) is always associated with the environment, but this is only a part of the iceberg. Development implies growth and meeting the present needs implies a certain quality of life and social dimension. These three aspects should be equally promoted. From there, we can understand that SD is more political than science. Environmental science is just a tool that can be used by politics in SD. There are 17 SD goals set by the United Nations Organization. Affordable and clean energy and climate change are two of the 17 goals which directly deal with the energy sector. However, those 17 different goals are mostly connected. In most cases, fulfilling one goal without hampering other goals is impossible.
used by politics in SD. There are 17 SD goals set by the United Nations Organization. Affordable and clean energy and climate change are two of the 17 goals which directly deal with the energy sector. However, those 17 different goals are mostly connected. In most cases, fulfilling one goal without hampering other goals is impossible.
(The 17 SDGs are: (1) No Poverty, (2) Zero Hunger, (3) Good Health and Well-being, (4) Quality Education, (5) Gender Equality, (6) Clean Water and Sanitation, (7) Affordable and Clean Energy, (8) Decent Work and Economic Growth, (9) Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure, (10) Reduced Inequality, (11) Sustainable Cities and Communities, (12) Responsible Consumption and Production, (13) Climate Action, (14) Life Below Water, (15) Life On Land, (16) Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions, (17) Partnerships for the Goals.)
When we talk about clean energy is not just about the usage of only renewable sources of energy and just discarding the usage of coal as a source or just transforming every vehicle in the world into EVs. Doing so may satisfy a few goals out of the above 17 but will disrupt other goals such as affordability. In recent years the costs related to various aspects of renewable energy have indeed been reduced but not enough to be affordable for everyone, especially in developing countries. Discarding available and functioning facilities will lead to the loss of jobs and cost more money, impacting goals like no poverty, zero hunger, economic growth, and many more. Development must happen in every aspect, especially those 17 goals that need to be satisfied, that’s the reason why hard decisions cannot be made, or even the “one decision for all” theory can also not work.
Another common statement is that EVs can help in solving the problem of pollution and climate change to some extent. Understandably, EVs don’t use any fuels but instead use electricity to run the engine of the vehicle hence, no unburnt carbons, no smoke, and no pollution. However, isn’t it important that the production of energy also needed to be clean and no or less pollution needs to emit from the power plants? If all vehicles in any city are EVs the energy requirement will also shoot up exponentially. Even if we consider Europe or US considers as the most developed part of the world also has a scarcity of charging stations and hardly can fulfill the energy requirement in such cases.
Sustainable development doesn’t necessarily mean discarding every old thing that is creating problems now. Yes, it is important to achieve carbon neutrality, reduce pollution, and have sustainable cities and sustainable infrastructure but it is also important to find ways to maintain the earlier things and to make sure that there is a smooth transaction from the old world to a new world. Sometimes even the change of doing things can also prove to be sustainable without disrupting any existing process.
One example is Forest Management. Deforestation is one of the major concerns around the world. Lots of movements have been orchestrated to spread awareness against deforestation. However, we still need wood, wooden pallets, and even forest products are essential for biomass again another clean source of energy. So, the idea is to plan both deforestation and afforestation according to the needs. Artificial forests can be prepared with thousands of trees. Land demarcations can be done for companies for cutting trees which will also give data to predict the rate at which deforestation is going to happen and to plan afforestation according to that. This can also be commercialized to discourage any illegal deforestation. This is still an idea, and a lot of work and brainstorming are required for this to be a reality.
The bottom line is that everything in this world is connected and a single discission and idea may serve one purpose but can disrupt several others. Even single opinion and one point of view can also be disruptive in nature and multiple opinions has to considered which can give a complete picture of the situation before taking any decision and that’s one of the goal of this website.