Guidance on Sustainable Development

A sustainable society is distinguished by a system of governance that focuses on mainstreaming and balancing social, economic and environmental progress to ensure sound management and efficient use of natural resources. It has democratic values, is prepared to invest in the health and well being of its people, encourages sustainable economic growth, and solves major environmental problems by reducing the impact on the environment to levels that are sustainable in the long term.

The accepted definition of sustainable development is:

"Development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" The Brundtland Report, 1987

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The new Sustainable Development Implementation Plan for Northern Ireland should:

1. Pull together all existing government strategies, polices and actions along with their corresponding targets and responsibilities.

2. Contain sufficiently ambitious targets (e.g. on greenhouse gas emissions, resource efficiency, social equity, economic progress/prosperity) to contribute to the achievement of the strategic objectives set out in the Sustainable Development Strategy.

3. Focus on making progress to achieve the objectives of the Sustainable Development Strategy with specific reference as to how success will be measured.

4. Provide links between all sectors to clarify how short, medium and long term goals relating to poverty, climate change and consumption are going to be addressed and by whom.

5. Embrace programmes like the Green New Deal to bring immediate and lasting environmental, social and economic benefits.

6. Use existing programmes, such as Community Eco-Challenge, the STEM Project, and Sustainable Northern Ireland's Sustainability Audit Matrix to meet the strategic objectives of the Sustainable Development Strategy and specific sustainability targets.

7. Be aligned to the Programme for Government and be the measure of success for the NI Assembly. To ensure this, it must be sufficiently resourced with the long-term targets of the Plan as a key variable for setting budgets within Corporate Spending Reviews.

8. Hold government departments (central and local) to account by explicitly setting out the targets that each must meet to achieve the high-level, long-term objectives which have been established.

9. Be robust enough to establish real action that is meaningful and measurable.

10. Be cross-cutting and innovative to ensure departments put in place a framework that will enable the private sector to develop and drive sustainability.