Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Sustainable definition

What does Sustainable mean? In legal practice, sustainable describes policies, projects, procurement and investments that meet present needs without compromising future generations’ ability to meet theirs, by conserving finite resources, preventing environmental harm and balancing social and economic factors. There is no single statutory definition of sustainable across England & Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. The term is descriptive and applied within specific regimes, including: planning and environmental law (objectives of sustainable development; EIA/SEA), public sector duties (for example, the Well‑being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 sustainable development principle), and corporate/finance regulation (green claims and disclosure). In Ireland, usage is likewise descriptive, but certain EU...

Sustainable development in the UK: legal definitions, strategies, indicators, planning presumptions, legislative duties, case law and post-Brexit implications across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

Published by a LexisNexis Environment expert

Practice notes

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Defining Sustainable development—the background

In the UK, mechanisms concerned with sustainable development generally draw on, and are steered by, variants of the Brundtland definition. They also frequently cite the three interlinked ‘pillars’, often described as the ‘triple bottom line’.

The Brundtland definition and the ‘three pillars’ concept

The Brundtland Report (Our Common Future) frames sustainable development as progress that fulfils current needs without diminishing the ability of future generations to meet theirs. It embraces two principal ideas:

needs—particularly the fundamental needs of the world’s poor, which warrant overriding priority; and
limits—those set by the prevailing state of technology and social organisation on the environment’s capacity to satisfy present and future needs.

The UN General Assembly endorsed this definition in Resolution 42/187, and the 2005 UN World Summit Outcome refers to the ‘interdependent and mutually reinforcing pillars’ of sustainable development:

economic development
social development
environmental protection

These elements underpin UK mechanisms touching on sustainable development...

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Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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