Despite a significant pool of sustainable development literature that appeared during the last decade, the term remains unclear. This study involved a theoretical analysis of definitions of sustainable development to identify the weights of different components, to assess what meanings are...

This paper analyses the strength and constraints of various evaluation methods in sustainable development projects with emphasis on participatory evaluation. An international literature review is used to analyse the application of traditional and participatory approaches. In addition, some of...

We surveyed sustainable development indicators (SDIs) adopted by 28 national governments, regions, and international organisations and compiled them into a database. The aims of this study were to understand the elements of sustainable development (SD), examine SDIs developed in certain fields...

Following conferences in Pignans, Maastricht, Vienna and Cologne and many e-mail exchanges, the participants of the GoSD-research initiative have identified a path for future research that describes not only governance and sustainable development but also how governance can be *for* sustainable...

The EU recently emphasised the need to speed up the pace of reforms to improve the state of the environment both in Europe and internationally. This becomes in particular challenging, as the "Lisbon Strategy" defines the general goal of an annual economic growth rate of 3%. Decoupling of...

Implementing sustainable development means shifting from a linear economic vision to promote a loop economy focused on the closing of both material and non-material flows. In this context, the paper aims at investigating consequences of the above – well accepted and known – statement from...

Currently, there are numerous indicators (single and composite) for measuring impacts in the three pillars, though current thinking emphasises the need for system thinking rather than the reductionist concept of pillars. Most existing indices/methods measure single aspects of sustainability and...

For 40 years or more, air quality policy has been based on the paradigm of the air quality standard as a uniform criterion of acceptable environmental degradation, built on the foundations of the precautionary principle. However, developments in health science have undermined some of the...

We used simulation to study how three French sheep production systems could adapt to a new context created by a surge in cereal prices associated with changes in common agricultural policy support. The evaluation criteria were economic performance, energy efficiency, emissions of greenhouse...

Firms' environmental behaviour depends mostly on how their revenues and costs are affected by consumers and investors' valuation of their specific sector and, at the same time, by the established regulatory framework and its enforcement. There is an empirical literature, which supports the...