SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT:

SUBMITTED BY:

 MANPREET SINGH GANDHI

 P.G.M.S (YMCA)
 MS-A-03
 (BUSINESS LAW)
INTRODUCTION

Sustainable development is a pattern of resource use that aims to meet human needs while
preserving the Environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also
for future generations. The term was used by the Brundtland Commission which coined
what has become the most often-quoted definition of sustainable development as
Development that "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs."

Sustainable development ties together concern for the carrying capacity of natural systems
with the social challenges facing humanity. As early as the 1970s "sustainability" was
employed to describe an economy "in equilibrium with basic ecological support systems."
Ecologists have pointed to The Limits to Growth, and presented the alternative of a “steady
state economy” in order to address environmental concerns.

The field of sustainable development can be conceptually broken into three constituent
parts: environmental sustainability, economic sustainability and sociopolitical
sustainability.
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT-CONCEPT

Sustainable development is defined as a pattern of social and structured economic

transformations (i.e. development) which optimizes the economic and societal benefits
available in the present, without jeopardizing the likely potential for similar benefits in the
future. A primary goal of sustainable development is to achieve a reasonable and equitably
distributed level of economic well-being that can be perpetuated continually for many
human generations.

]Sustainable development implies using renewable natural resources in a manner which

does not eliminate or degrade them, or otherwise diminish their usefulness for future
generations. It further implies using non-renewable (exhaustible) mineral resources in a
manner which does not unnecessarily preclude easy access to them by future generations.
Sustainable development also requires depleting non-renewable energy resources at a slow
enough rate so as to ensure the high probability of an orderly society transition to
renewable energy sources.

Based on similar arguments, sustainable development has been alternatively defined in

various manners also; some of them are as follows:

"Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs".

--The World Commission on Environment and Development, Brundtland Commission

1987.

"Sustainable development ensures that the maximum rate of resource consumption and
waste discharge for a selected development portfolio would be sustained indefinitely, in a
defined planning region, without progressively impairing its bio-productivity and
ecological integrity. Environmental conservation, therefore, contrary to general belief,
accelerates rather than hinders economic development.
Therefore, the Development plans have to ensure:

• Sustainable and equitable use of resources for meeting the needs of the present and
future generations without causing damage to environment.
• To prevent further damage to our life-support systems;
• To conserve and nurture the biological diversity, gene pool and other resources for
long term food security".

--State of the Environment Report - 1999, Ministry of Environment and Forests,

Government of India.

"The primary objective of the Sustainable Development is to reduce the absolute poverty of
the world's poor through providing lasting and secure livelihoods that minimize resource
depletion, environmental degradation, cultural disruption and social instability".

--E. Bar bier, "The Concept of Sustainable Economic Development", Environmental

Conservation, 1987.
ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

Water is an important natural resource that covers 71% of the Earth's surface. Image is
the Earth photographed from Apollo 17.

Environmental sustainability refers to the maintenance of functioning natural ecosystems,

as well as the control of pollutants and toxins in human environments such as cities and
agricultural areas.

A condition of "unsustainability" in an environment occurs when natural capital (the sum

total of nature's resources) is used up faster than it can be replenished; when ecosystem
functions are systematically decaying; or when toxins and pollutants dangerous to human
and other forms of life are systematically increasing.

Sustainability requires that human activity only uses nature's resources at a rate at which
they can be replenished naturally. Inherently the concept of sustainable development is
intertwined with the concept of carrying capacity. Theoretically, the long-term result of
environmental degradation is the inability to sustain human life. Such degradation on a
global scale could imply extinction for humanity.
 Consumption of renewable
State of environment Sustainability
resources

More than nature's ability to Environmental

Not sustainable
replenish degradation

Equal to nature's ability to Environmental

Steady state economy
replenish equilibrium

Less than nature's ability to Environmentally

Environmental renewal
replenish sustainable

The Notion of Capital in Sustainable Development

The sustainable development debate is based on the assumption that societies need to
manage three types of capital (economic, social, and natural), which may be non-
substitutable and whose consumption might be irreversible. Daly (1991), for example,
points to the fact that natural capital can not necessarily be substituted by economic
capital. While it is possible that we can find ways to replace some natural resources, it is
much more unlikely that they will ever be able to replace eco-system services, such as the
protection provided by the ozone layer, or the climate stabilizing function of the
Amazonian forest. In fact natural capital, social capital and economic capital are often
complementarities. A further obstacle to substitutability lies also in the multi-functionality
of many natural resources. Forests, for example, not only provide the raw material for
paper (which can be substituted quite easily), but they also maintain biodiversity, regulate
water flow, and absorb CO2. Another problem of natural and social capital deterioration
lies in their partial irreversibility. The loss in biodiversity, for example, is often definite.
The same can be true for cultural diversity. For example with globalization advancing
quickly the number of indigenous languages is dropping at alarming rates. Moreover, the
depletion of natural and social capital may have non-linear consequences. Consumption of
natural and social capital may have no observable impact until a certain threshold is
reached. A lake can, for example, absorb nutrients for a long time while actually increasing
its productivity. However, once a certain level of algae is reached lack of oxygen causes the
lake’s ecosystem to break down all of a sudden.

MARKET FAILURE

Before flue gas desulfurization was installed, the air-polluting emissions from this power
plant in New Mexico contained excessive amounts of sulfur dioxide.

If the degradation of natural and social capital has such important consequence the
question arises why action is not taken more systematically to alleviate it. Cohen and Winn
(2007) point to four types of market failure as possible explanations: First, while the
benefits of natural or social capital depletion can usually be privatized the costs are often
externalized (i.e. they are borne not by the party responsible but by society in general).
Second, natural capital is often undervalued by society since we are not fully aware of the
real cost of the depletion of natural capital. Information asymmetry is a third reason—
often the link between cause and effect is obscured, making it difficult for actors to make
informed choices. Cohen and Winn close with the realization that contrary to economic
theory many firms are not perfect optimizers. They postulate that firms often do not
optimize resource allocation because they are caught in a "business as usual" mentality.
THE BUSINESS CASE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The most broadly accepted criterion for corporate sustainability constitutes a firm’s
efficient use of natural capital. This eco-efficiency is usually calculated as the economic
value added by a firm in relation to its aggregated ecological impact. This idea has been
popularized by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) under
the following definition: “Eco-efficiency is achieved by the delivery of competitively-priced
goods and services that satisfy human needs and bring quality of life, while progressively
reducing ecological impacts and resource intensity throughout the life-cycle to a level at
least in line with the earth’s carrying capacity.” (DeSimone and Pop off, 1997: 47)

Similar to the eco-efficiency concept but so far less explored is the second criterion for
corporate sustainability. Socio-efficiency describes the relation between a firm’s value
added and its social impact. Whereas, it can be assumed that most corporate impacts on
the environment are negative (apart from rare exceptions such as the planting of trees) this
is not true for social impacts. These can be either positive (e.g. corporate giving, creation of
employment) or negative (e.g. work accidents, mobbing of employees, human rights
abuses). Depending on the type of impact socio-efficiency thus either tries to minimize
negative social impacts (i.e. accidents per value added) or maximize positive social impacts
(i.e. donations per value added) in relation to the value added.

Both eco-efficiency and socio-efficiency are concerned primarily with increasing economic
sustainability. In this process they instrumentalize both natural and social capital aiming to
benefit from win-win situations. However, as Dyllick and Hockerts point out the business
case alone will not be sufficient to realize sustainable development. They point towards eco-
effectiveness, socio-effectiveness, sufficiency, and eco-equity as four criteria that need to be
met if sustainable development is to be reached.
Indian Council For Sustainable Development (ICSD)

Indian council for sustainable development envisages for itself a strong and active advisory
role as a non –government initiative, with a purpose of providing guidance and relevant
analysis on integrated environmental concerns with development; laying specific emphasis
on removal of poverty and ensuring equitable growth of income and wealth in India.

It seeks to further fortify cooperation and exchange between India and the international
community in the field of environment and development, with the broad objectives of

 Assessing the challenge of integrating environmental issues with development

strategies, in order to establish a pattern of sustainable development in India,
 Formulating strategies and directions, which would be provided as
recommendations and advise to various levels and agencies of the Government of
India, and,
 Disseminating and publishing information on issues linking the environment and
development in India and practices to promote sustainable development.

At present, the Council is working with and seeks to build further collaboration with the
CCICED (China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and
Development) in order to play a key role in bringing together experts and the policy
community from India and China to help forge an understanding and appreciation of the
sustainable development construct in the two countries.
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA

Sustainable development in India now encompasses a variety of development schemes in

social, cleantech (clean energy, clean water and sustainable agriculture) and human
resources segments, having caught the attention of both Central and State governments and
also public and private sectors. Social sector, cleantech investments into green energy and
fuel alternatives and development schemes for backward and below the poverty line (BPL)
families are being touted as some of the more heavily invested segments in India in 2009,
despite the economic slowdown.

In fact, India is expected to begin the greening of its national income accounting, making
depletion in natural resources wealth a key component in its measurement of gross domestic
product (GDP).

Sustainable energy investment in India went up to US$ 3.7 billion in 2008, up 12 per cent
since 2007. It included asset finance of US$ 3.2 billion, up by 36 per cent. Venture capital
and private equity saw an increase of 270 per cent to US$ 493 million. Merger and
acquisition activities totalled US$ 585 million. Most acquisition activity was centered on
biomass, small hydro and wind projects, according to the report, Global Trends in
Sustainable Energy Investment 2009.

India’s sustained work towards reducing Greenhouse Gases (GHG) will ensure that the
country’s per capita emission of GHG will continue to be low until 2030-31, and it is
estimated that the per capita emission in 2031 will be lower than per capita global emission
of GHG in 2005, according to a new study. Even in 2031, India’s per capita GHG emissions
would stay under four tones of CO2, which is lower than the global per capita emission of
4.22 tones of CO2 in 2005.

India has been ranked ninth in the tree planting roll of honor in a campaign to plant a
billion trees, which was launched by the United Nations Environment, Program me (UNEP)
in November 2006. The country has registered 96 million trees.

Two Indian companies including Wipro and HCL have figured in the list of top five green
electronics brands as per the 8th edition of the Guide to Greener Electronics, because of
their strong focus on the e-waste management and climate control. The study which for the
first time has included climate and energy as criteria for evaluation has placed Wipro in
joint second position with Samsung.
Corporate Initiatives

• Global systems and services company Dell, in partnership with The Energy and
Resources Institute (TERI), has launched ‘The Climate Eduxchange’–an IT-enabled
initiative to improve environment education in schools across India. The campaign
aims to raise awareness and understanding about climate change issues among
students and teachers of all disciplines.
• SOS Children’s Villages of India and Coca-Cola India announced the
commencement of work on 24 million liters of rainwater harvesting (RWH) project
at SOS Children’s Village in Aluva near Kochi. The project, on completion, will help
ensure safe drinking water for children and nearby communities.
• Tata Steel Rural Development Society (TSRDS), an organization involved in the steel
major's community building initiatives, has embarked on an initiative to empower
communities by creating awareness on the Right to Information (RTI) Act at the
grassroots level.
• Wipro InfoTech, provider of IT and business transformation services, has unveiled
its new eco-friendly and toxin-free desktops, manufactured with materials
completely free of deadly chemicals like polyvinyl chloride and brominated flame
retardants.

National Solar Mission

According to the Union Minister of New and Renewable Energy, Dr Farooq Abdullah, the
government targets to set up 1,100 MW grid-connected solar plants including 100 MW
capacity plants as rooftop and smaller solar power plants for the first phase of the National
Solar Mission till March 2013. The government has approved US$ 974.65 million for this.

In addition, the government plans to generate 20,000 MW solar power by 2022 under the
three-phase National Solar Mission, with 2000 MW capacity equivalent off-grid solar
applications, including 20 million solar lights, also planned to be installed during this
period.

Clean Energy and Technology

The Energy Efficiency Indicator (EEI) survey for corporate India, released in June 2009,
reveals that 47 per cent of the respondents are paying more attention to energy efficiency,
compared to last year and 94 per cent of the respondents feel that energy management is
extremely important. An increase in capital investments for energy efficiency is needed say
62 per cent, while 72 per cent of the respondents feel their organizations can achieve more
energy efficiency from operating budgets. More than 92 per cent of the respondents say
energy efficiency is a priority in new construction as well as in renovation projects.

Corporate Investments

• Investors from the US and European countries are keen to invest around US$ 416.4
million to promote and equip small and medium enterprises engaged in green
business such as advanced technologies for water management, agriculture/organic
products, clean technologies, ecotourism, renewable energy, green building
materials, etc.
• PV Technologies India (a subsidiary of Moser Baer), Titan Energy Systems, Reliance
Industries Ltd, Tata BP Solar Power are among the 12 Solar Photo Voltaic projects
filed under Special Incentive Package Scheme (SIPS), which have received in-
principle clearance from the Government. Together, these 12 projects would entail
an investment of US$ 16.34 billion over a 10-year period.
• Finnish company, Win Wind Power Energy, has opened its US$ 77.5 million wind
turbine-cum-blade manufacturing facility near Chennai.
• Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI), a program me of US-based William J Clinton
Foundation, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Gujarat
government for the setting up of five solar parks in Gujarat. The proposed 3000 MW
solar power project will see an investment of over US$ 10.3 billion.
• Natural Energy Processing Company (NEPC) India Ltd is planning to set up a
special economic zone (SEZ) at Palladam near Coimbatore with an investment of
around US$ 429.09 million.
• Gamesa Corporacion Tecnologica, a Spanish company specialising in sustainable
energy technologies, especially fabrication of wind turbines and setting up of wind
farms has set up a 500-MW per year capacity facility in Chennai at an investment of
40 million euro.

Government Initiatives

• The government has formulated the National Policy on Biofuels and given its
approval for setting up the National Bio-fuel Coordination Committee and Bio-Fuel
Steering Committee. Under the policy, it targets increasing the blending of biofuels
with petrol and diesel to 20 per cent by 2017.
• The Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) will be investing
 around US$ 3.39 billion for the development of renewable energy (RE) sector
projects during the 11th Five Year Plan. As per Planning Commission estimates, RE
projects worth US$ 15.97 billion, (expected to generate 15,000 MW power) are likely
to come up in the Plan.
• The government is considering a regulation to make use of renewable energy
mandatory for special economic zones (SEZ) to save on traditional fuel like coal and
diesel.
• India is likely to spend over US$ 20.4 billion on setting up of power plants based on
renewable energy sources by the end of 2011-12.
• The government has allowed 100 per cent FDI (foreign direct investment) in the
renewable energy sector and a conducive policy has been put in place to attract
foreign companies.
• The government is proposing to convert special economic zones (SEZs) into green
hubs.
• In the Union Budget 2010-11, the government announced the setting up of the
National Clean Energy Fund (NCEF) for funding research and innovative projects in
clean technologies. To build the corpus of the NCEF, clean energy cess on coal
produced in India at a nominal rate of Rs.50 per tone will be levied. This cess will
also apply on imported coal.

• Moreover, the plan outlay for the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has been
increased by 61 per cent, from US$ 136.83 million in 2009-10 to US$ 220.70 million
in2010-11.

CONCLUSION
1. Firstly, India should have to stop using such fuels which are non-renewable and not good for our
environment too. Such as petrol, diesel etc. In place of these, researches should have been take place
to think about other alternatives. Such that the recent research is agreed to use of water in vehicles
in place of petrol etc.

2. Secondly, We should do Afforestation.Indian government should have make plan in which every
colony should have to contain about 30to40 percent area with trees and plants.

3. Third, Industries should have to stop using the dangerous chemicals like cluoro-flourocarbon i.e.
cfcs, methane or other chemicals which are not only affecting our environment but us too. The
recent example of this is the change of the color of our one of the most beautiful monument i.e.
"The Taj" and now its condition is getting worsend day by day due to acid rain which is caused by
these horrible chemicals.

4. Fourth, Awareness and Sincerity be the most effective factor in sustainable development
because, we are responsible for making our environment polluted and now we are trying to
developed and only we can developed our country sustainly.