ABSTRACT
In the International Institute for Environment and Development, we interpret the term as meaning a trade-off between the social, environmental, and economic imperatives so as to result in the optimal long-term, or intergenerational, outcome for net welfare. Trade-offs imply winners and losers, give and take. At a local and at a national level, where sustainable development happens there were few targets and fewer commitments. This is the explanation for why it has taken literally months to agree so little at this fifth anniversary session of the Commission on Sustainable Development, why there is an apparent deadlock again between the so-called G7 and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Environment ministers were regarded as tier in comparison with those in finance, trade, and defence. There was no evident link between economy and the environment in the rhetoric of the time.
