The Sustainable Development Challenge for Technology : will it work in time ?

Sustainable development is a three-pronged attack on the future. It is shorthand for a world in which economic progress, social equity and environmental quality are being integrated to provide fulfilling lifestyles for the planet’s inhabitants, both now and in the future. Technology will have to play an important role in the transition towards sustainable development, and technological changes call for supportive changes in production and distribution systems and consumption patterns. The role technology can play in achieving sustainable development is focussed on with special consideration for the opportunities to force technology to develop in support of sustainability. Objectives for sustainable technology – often referred to as factor X innovations – are reviewed and examples given of initiatives to initiate and/or accelerate the development of more sustainable technologies.