La durabilité ou l'escamotage du développement durable

Abstract

More than a quarter of a century after the publication of the "Brundtland" Report, which gave worldwide fame to the concept of "sustainable development", and more than twenty years after the Earth Summit in Rio which embedded it in international norms, I offer an assessment of this political idea. Whereas, in the aftermath of the Cold War, sustainable development briefly enjoyed unanimous support, we are witnessing today a vast array of alternative political project that make some references to its normative content. Their common ground, however, is to replace sustainable development with sustainability. The difference may appear minimal, but it is in fact crucial, as sustainability cuts loose the idea of global justice which was central in the Brundtland Report. The social democratic vision of sustainable development has been dodged in favour of a neoliberal and depoliticised sustainability.