Description

Worried about climate change? How to pay for your pension? Air pollution? Or perhaps it’s whether your child will find a decent job? The European Union is tackling these and other issues that affect us every day – working to improve the quality of our lives and to make our children’s future more secure. The EU’s Sustainable Development Strategy reaches across the board, from how we cut down our trees to the way we treat our elderly. Europe’s future depends on whether it achieves the triple objectives of wealth creation, social cohesion and environmental protection.

What is sustainable development?
Defined as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”, sustainable development was the main theme of what is often called the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. It was here that world leaders signed up to conventions on both climate change and biodiversity. They issued a declaration at the end of the summit, listing 27 principles on the environment and sustainable development.

A report of the European Union