Sustainable Energy Management

Sustainable Environment Policy Programme
Environment Centre

Sustainable Environmental Policy delivered by Sustainable Regulation There is a developing view that the Government’s environmental policies, implemented by regulation with the intention of promoting Sustainable Development, have not always been founded on sound science. Historically, however, international thinking on sustainability issues was led by scientific debate with the “Agenda 21” conference (Agenda of Science for Environment and Development) being prepared by ICSU (International Council of Scientific Unions) for the United Nations Rio Conference – the so-called “Earth Summit”. The original Bruntland definition of sustainable development was “Development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future generations to meet their own needs.” The present Government added a not-verysubtle aspirational flavour by suggesting that the essential was ensuring “ a better quality of life for everyone, now and for generations to come”. Based in the University of Manchester in partnership with Westlakes Research Institute, the Sustainable Environment Policy Programme (SEPP) has been set up to examine whether environmental policies are sustainable - which we define in human terms as their ability to deliver, over the long term “The greatest good for the greatest number while safeguarding the welfare of the individual”? The welfare of the individual is taken to include all human needs, not merely material ones, and encompasses the achievement or preservation of a wholesome environment. Sustainable policy should thus balance economic growth, public health and environmental care, and safeguard the interests of future generations. This sustainable policy should be delivered by ‘sustainable regulation’ - regulation which would further the achievement of Sustainable Development. The complex balance of these very different factors will be difficult even if the aims are very specific,...