Sustainable Development

In general the definition of “sustainable development” is: “To meet the needs of the present without endangering future generations to meet their needs the development of needs”. There were two key “needs” included, which were the essential needs of the poorest and limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organization. According to this, sustainability has three underlying bases: (1) Economic viability: the costs and business aspects of a project. (2) Social concerns: human health and social welfare. (3) Natural or ecological issues: depletion of natural capital and the environment. In order to understand the concepts and principles of sustainable development, we have to figure out the international initiatives on UNFCCC, Circular Economy, SDGs, ESG, and Net Zero Pledge. In addition, strategies for adaptation to climate change from environmental aspects suggested by the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, and Japan should be critically reviewed. Business opportunities such as food and agriculture, green city, energy and materials, and health and wellbeing should be developed and deployed to achieve SDGs. Industry, innovation and infrastructure action are explicitly mentioned in the SDGs, which is an important improvement from MDGs. Further linkages between green chemistry, green technology, green engineering, green business, green economy, and SDGs should be developed to improve the coherency of the economic growth and environmental protection. Future priority research directions (PRD) should be focused on Implementing sustainable material management for enhancing energy efficiency, building green supply chains, and creating green business opportunities, Implementing Green Chemistry Principles for Net Zero Pledge, Strengthening Sustainable Consumption and Production for Green Economy, Developing Climate Friendly Technologies for Sustainable Low Carbon Industry, and Constructing Decarbonizing Supply Chains for Low Carbon Economy.