Business, peace and the sustainable development goals

Sustainable development is about meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. This commonly used and well-cited definition of sustainable development was offered in 1987, in the Brundtland Commission report (Our Common Future). This definition of sustainable development, which was later adopted by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, is not just a theoretical one but a rather a call for a shift of mind-set, for business, governments and others. It implies the need to consider the future and forthcoming generations in all business operations, and that a short-term focus on profit maximization alone is consequently unsustainable.