Over two decades in pursuit of sustainable development: Influence, transformations, limits

This paper offers a short history of references to sustainable development, from the Brundtland Report (1987) to the preparation of the “Rio+20” Conference (2012). This discussion will consist of four parts. The first section revisits the definitions and status of sustainable development in environmental discourse. Second, the paper looks at the evolution of policy instruments applied to the environment, and the influence of the sustainable development framing. Third, the scope of the analysis expands for a broader view of the changes that have occurred since the Brundtland Report in the “environmental scene” (actors, discourses, modes of action). Lastly, the paper outlines major evolutions of environmental problems in the same period, in an attempt to sketch limitations that sustainable development discourse has progressively revealed. The article concludes by envisaging the future of the concept, and the potential influence of alternative concepts in this respect.