Many hypotheses are made, in the most important international fora, about the causes and possible solutions of the current major global emergencies, such as the pandemic and war, without however foreseeing immediate ways out. However, there is growing awareness that the climate transition will accelerate, both to create alternative energy and food sources to those of Russia and Ukraine, and to generate prosperity and well-being thanks to a more sustainable, fair, and healthy economy.
Climate change and its consequences are well known. What we are perhaps less aware of is the cause, that is, our past and present model of development which is structurally unsustainable. In addition to inexorably consuming natural capital, an infinite number of residues continue to be produced, which accumulate in the environment, with devastating effects on climate change, pollution of the biosphere, loss of biodiversity, and health.
This is why we talk about sustainability more and more often. Sustainability is the characteristic of a process or state that can be maintained at a certain level indefinitely. In the environmental, economic, and social sphere, it is the process of change in which the exploitation of resources, the investment plan, the orientation of technological development, and institutional changes are all in harmony and enhance the current and future potential in order to meet the needs and aspirations of any human being.
The guiding principle of sustainability is sustainable development, which concerns, in an interconnected way, the environmental, economic, and social spheres. Sustainable development means development aimed at satisfying the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The term “sustainable development” was first introduced by the Brundtland Report of the World Commission for Environment and Development in 1987.
Sustainability is also defined as a socio-ecological process characterized by the desire to pursue a common ideal. As difficult as it may be to achieve this ideal, a persistent and dynamic attitude ensures that the process gives rise to a sustainable system.
Thus, we, in a social and communal sense, must be well aware that a deteriorated environment is not only caused by the carbon emissions of fossil fuels but also by all the rest of the pollution coming from agriculture and industry, which damages all terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems – natural, rural, industrial, urban, marine, and freshwater.
The general idea is that the growth, the same growth that has caused the systemic unsustainability in which we find ourselves today, is also the prerequisite for economic sustainability, so, paradoxically, sustainability can only be achieved by continuing to somehow support the growth.
Of course, we need to change the kind of “food” that feeds it. A perhaps obvious example: if fossil energy, after having been a positive source of growth for centuries, has now become a fundamental cause of climate change, it means that it is necessary to “unfossil”, that is to switch to alternative energy sources.
From this point of view, sustainability is an important factor in creating economic value for companies. In fact, by being more sustainable, companies can reduce their operational risks, acquire a reputational advantage, reduce costs, increase their market shares and decrease their cost of money.
The climatic transition is however very complex. There is an energy transition that moves toward renewable energy. There is an agroecological transition that moves toward an agriculture that is regenerative for the environment and beneficial for health. There is an industrial transition that moves toward circularity, which integrates the production and disposal of goods in a clean way.
In all this, what drives is the search for the well-being of citizens, which triggers a virtuous circle. The growing awareness that the quality of life of each and every one of us depends on the world in which we live leads us to take better care of it. The circular economy detoxifies the biosphere, and the latter, regenerating spontaneously, restores a healthy and beautiful environment for people.
Healthy ecosystems and environmental systems are necessary for the survival of the human species and living organisms. Some ways to reduce the negative impact of man on the environment are eco-sustainable chemical engineering, environmental management of resources, and environmental protection. Information is collected through green computing, green chemistry, earth science, environmental science, and conservation biology systems. Ecological economics deals with academic research on the human economy and natural ecosystems.
The path to achieving sustainability also represents a social challenge involving international and national law, the urban and transport system, local and individual lifestyles, and critical consumption. To live in a more sustainable way, some strategies can be used, such as the reorganization of living conditions (for example, eco-villages, ecological cities, and sustainable cities), the revision of economic sectors (permaculture, green building, sustainable agriculture) or practices work (bio-architecture), the use of science for the development of new technologies (green technology, renewable energy and fusion, and fission energy through a sustainable process), or the design of flexible and reversible systems as well as the adaptation of styles of individual life aimed at the conservation of natural resources.
The interactions and interdependencies between all the factors create an extraordinary level of complexity which, contrary to the reductionist approach generally applied, requires a systemic approach. By tackling problems one by one, there is a risk of not solving them, because systems have non-linear and unpredictable behaviors. There is also the substantial risk that solving a single problem would create others as a consequence. The challenge then is to find an effective, efficient and comprehensive model and make it operational in a short time.
However, in the light of ever-worsening phenomena such as environmental degradation, climate change, overconsumption, demographic increase, and unlimited economic growth in a closed system, the concrete possibility and hope that human societies will be able, in the future, moreover a very near future, to achieve the objectives of environmental sustainability has been and unfortunately continues to remain, uncertain.