Title: Real change through backcasting from sustainability principles: presentation of an international research programme built on a unifying Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD)

Authors: Karl-Henrik Robert

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Blekinge Institute of Technology, SE-371 79 Karlskrona, Sweden

Abstract: This special edition of Progress in Industrial Ecology presents a unique collection of papers. All tools, concepts and case studies are put in the context of a systematic approach towards a robust definition of sustainability. This is intuitive, how can you be strategic if you don’t know where you want to be? Yet, this way of thinking is still rare on the sustainability arena. How do society|s current remediation of |impacts| and choices between evils fit as stepping-stones towards the full scope of sustainability? The Real Change is an international research programme, unique in taking the above challenge seriously and putting it into systematic research, learning and action. The founders Blekinge Institute of Technology, Lund|s Institute of Technology, The Natural Step International and five Swedish Agencies invite business and public sector leaders and universities from across the globe to take active part in the programme.

Keywords: sustainability; strategic sustainable development; systems thinking; unifying theory; backcasting; basic principles; industrial ecology; concepts; tools; indicators.

DOI: 10.1504/PIE.2009.031069

Progress in Industrial Ecology, An International Journal, 2009 Vol.6 No.3, pp.207 - 215

Published online: 19 Jan 2010 *

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