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47 Envtl. L. Rep. News & Analysis 10488 (2017)
Environmental Sustainability: Finding a Working Definition

handle is hein.journals/elrna47 and id is 514 raw text is: COMMENTS Environmental Sustainability: Finding a Working Definition by Scott Fulton, David Clarke, and Maria Amparo Alb in Scott Fulton is President of the Environmental Law Institute and a member of the United Nations Environment Programme's International Advisory Council on Environmental Justice. He is a former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency general counsel, environmental appeals judge, environmental prosecutor, and environmental diplomat. David Clarke formerly served as a Senior Director for science policy at the American Chemistry Council, as well as a speechwriter for senior U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials. He is currently a freelance writer for government and private clients. Marfa Amparo Albin is the former Executive Director and President of the Ecuadorian Environmental Law Center. She currently practices environmental law and collaborates with the International Center for Research on Environment and Land, Universidad de los Hemisferios, Ecuador. I. Sustainability's Limiting Ambiguity Since at least 1987, when the World Commission on Envi- ronment and Development published Our Common Future, sustainability has become an increasingly central concept in redefining environmental stewardship-development that meets the needs of the present without compromis- ing the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.1 The most recent contribution to this conceptual framing can be found in the United Nations' ambitious Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the devel- oped and developing world. And yet, despite its expanding presence in environmental policy discourse since its first introduction almost 30 years ago, sustainability still suffers from ambiguity that must be overcome if governmental and private-sector decisionmakers are to optimize the con- cept's potential. The march toward realizing the ideal of more respon- sible stewardship of the earth's natural resources contin- ues to advance, notwithstanding dramatic changes in the political landscape. The current shift toward nationalism and protectionism indeed may impede international coor- dination and integration around sustainability ideals. In the United States, for example, a new administration has expressed skepticism toward sustainability challenges like climate change.2 Authors' Note: 7he authors are grateful to Cynthia R. Harris for her research and drafting assistance. Any views or opinions expressed in this Comment are solely our own, and do not necessarily represent those of the institutions with which we are affiliated. 1. REPORT OF THE WORLD COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT: OUR COMMON FUTURE (Brundtland Report) (1987), available at http://www.un-documents.net/our-common-future.pdf. 2. See 'The White House, An America First Energy Plan, https://www. whitehouse.gov/america-first-energy (last visited Apr. 6, 2017). But China and India appear to be stepping up their leadership on climate change, just as the United States may be taking a pause. At the January 2017 World Eco- nomic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, Chinese President Xi Jinping urged nations to follow through on their com- mitments under the 2015 Paris climate agreement. China reports making significant progress in its renewable energy investments, while India recently forecast it will exceed its Paris renewable energy targets, predicting that 57% rather than 40% of its total electricity capacity will derive from non-fossil fuel sources by 2027. In the context of both climate change and the broader sustainability objective, we are witnessing a revolutionary push coming from local governments, nongovernmental organizations, and businesses-an emergent distributed model of change that relies less on the role of state actors. The private sector, seeing positive financial returns and rep- utational protection from investments in conservation and efficiency, increasingly sees sustainability as making eco- nomic sense, as well as serving as a hedge against risk. Cli- mate change, for example, was recently estimated to put at risk $2.5 trillion of global financial assets.3 Perhaps unsur- prisingly, conservation investments increased by a whop- ping 62% since 2013; $8.2 billion was invested in green ventures between 2004 and 2015.4 And environmental responsibility is increasingly seen as an established norm, perhaps nowhere more profoundly than with millenni- als5-the next generation of consumers, and business and 3. Simon Dietz et al., Climate Value at Risk of Global Financial Assets, 6 NATURE CLIMATE CHANGE 676 (2016). 4. Kelley Hamrick, State of Private Investment in Conservation 2016: A Landscape Assessment of an Emerging Market, ECOSYSTEM MARKETPLACE (2016). Notably, in November 2016, 365 major U.S. companies and investors issued a public appeal to then-President-elect Donald Trump not to abandon the Paris climate accord. 5. For example, the latest University of Texas Energy Poll, released October 2016, found a distinction between millennials and older generations' attitudes on climate change, with more millennials believing climate change ENVIRONMENTAL LAW REPORTER 6-2017 47 ELR 10488

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