Page 29 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

24 2. Sustainability, sustainable development, and business sustainability

FIG. 2.1 The figure represents the different capital substitutability scenarios based on a very weak, strong, or very
strong sustainability approach. (Credits: Marta Avesani)

irreversibility of that specific form of capital regeneration. The very strong sustainability ap-
proach is the more prudent model not allowing any substitutability.
The three-pillar approach is the most widely known one. It underlines the importance
of addressing the economic, environmental, and social dimensions of sustainable develop-
ment simultaneously because of their urgency, inter-dependency, and interconnection
(cf. Giddings et al., 2002 for a graphic representation). As a consequence, according to this
view, the three focuses are equally important and must be equally weighed. Some weak
points are also acknowledged. First of all, a risk is supposed for a technical fix approach
in coping with sustainable development issues (Giddings et al., 2002); that is to say that
the model, though showing the interconnection about different dimensions, is unlikely to tear