Social Drivers of Sustainable Development (Background Note)

The emerging consensus on the post-2015 development agenda suggests the need to integrate the MDG focus on poverty reduction and the Rio+20 focus on environmental sustainability and policy coherence. Such an approach bodes well for ensuring that the three domains of sustainable development—economic, environmental and social—are treated far more equally than has been the case to date. Even since the concept of sustainable development was popularized by the Brundtland Commission in 1987, there has been a tendency to neglect its social dimensions. Moreover, as was recognized when the term green economy gained international attention in the run-up to Rio+20, social dimensions remained unclear in terms of both what they are, and how they can be addressed.