The concept of sustainability lays out the guiding principle for a future-oriented development of mankind. Today’s understanding of sustainability is three-dimensional and pertains to the areas of environment, society and economics. People also talk about the “magical sustainability triangle” since it is supposed to represent the creation of win-win situations amongst the different dimensions on the desired level. The concept of sustainability is rooted in European forestry practices and can be traced as far as back as the Middle Ages.

The popularly used expression today “sustainable development” arose out of the United Nations’ Brundtland Commission for Environment and Development, founded in 1983. At that point, the dominating environment-related sustainability understanding of the time (ecological concentration) was carried over into today’s prevailing anthropogenic concept. With it, social aspects and the responsibility of people and society in the sense of an inter- and intra-generative matter of justice advanced to the same level as the environmental issue. In this sense, the concept of sustainability is based on an ethical foundation. A third step expanded it to environmental sustainability.