ABSTRACT
The term “sustainability” was introduced into the political, as well as public, discussion by the World Commission on Environmental and Development in the well-cited report Our Common Future (Brundtland Commission 1987). This document underlined the responsibility humankind has toward the future generations with an elegant definition that has had far-reaching acceptance from governments, NGOs, as well as private organizations:
Although this laudable claim was not easy to operationalize, it has been very successful in environmental politics as well as in mobilization. Indeed, the United Nations declared sustainability as the guiding principle for the 21st century at the World Conference in Rio de Janeiro and promoted a concrete action plan, Agenda 21 (United Nations Environment Programme [UNEP] 1992). The confirmation of this concept, in Johannesburg in 2002, introduced the life cycle aspect. Furthermore, the joint UNEP-SETAC Life Cycle Initiative was started just prior to the Johannesburg forum (Töpfer 2002). This initiative aims at a global promotion and use of life cycle thinking, life cycle assessment (LCA), and life cycle management (LCM).
