1.3.6—Sustainable development
- Syllabus
- First assessment 2026
- Objective
- 1.3.6
- Level
- SL
Judge Development Across Three Time Scales
Sustainable development meets present needs while protecting future viability, social equity and ecological integrity.
Evaluate a development by access and affordability now, resource and emissions effects over time, and who gains or loses. Green technology is only one piece.
A transit project improves mobility now; judge whether fares remain affordable and whether long-term emissions and habitat impacts are acceptable.
Weigh present energy and access against food, equity and ecological trade-offs; technology alone cannot decide.
Sustainable development is not just ‘green technology’; it integrates people, future and ecology.
The 1987 Brundtland report popularized sustainable development as meeting present needs without compromising future generations' ability to meet theirs. Its contribution was to connect environmental protection with economic development and social needs; applying the definition still requires evidence about whose needs are met, which ecological limits are respected and which costs are shifted into the future.