Implementing Sustainability: Policy Coherence & Effective Action - Some challenges in building a sustainable future ( Part 1)

Sustainability Matters

Sustainability is a subject of some complexity and this can make it an area prone to misunderstanding.

If we briefly chart the history of sustainable development it includes these major milestones:

• At the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, political leaders from over 100 countries made a formal commitment to intensify efforts to resolve global environment and development problems and to strive for sustainable development.
• Following the EU Amsterdam Treaty in 1997, the Council of Ministers decided to assess all policy areas for their contribution to sustainability.
• In June 2001, EU Heads of State and Government agreed the first European sustainable development strategy. This set out a long term vision for society where economic growth would support social progress and environmental performance. This was subsequently revised at the European Council meeting in June 2006.

In the 20 years since sustainable development debuted on the world stage, its precocious relative, global warming, like an older and more belligerent sibling, has been dominating the agenda – more latterly, redefined as climate change.

Unfortunately, in some quarters, the distinction between sustainability and climate change has become blurred, and the point that action on climate change is only one element of sustainable development is often overshadowed.

The bias towards combating climate change is enormous; carbon reduction is certainly an area where we can obtain immediate results; the insecurity of global energy and sky-rocketing prices only serve to reinforce this.

Behavioural change and a short programme of technology modification are likely to be very successful in curbing the worst excesses of energy consumption and the energy inefficiency of the built environment.

Transport efficiency initiatives are being implemented at a local level and congestion zone charging is certainly modifying behaviour; national road pricing policy appears to be a likely candidate for a national debate - if not at the UK level then almost certainly at the devolved level.

Other important aspects of sustainability from the local government perspective that need to be considered are:

• Action to deliver sustainability must also allow for growth - populations, economies and the net consumption of commodities
• Carbon reduction must be accompanied by an improvement in service delivery from smaller budgets

The satisfaction of these elements requires local government to do more with less, and in effect to undergo enterprise wide change. In Parts 2 and 3 of this paper we will identify and examine the challenges posed by information, collaboration and culture in building a sustainable future.