Translations: Nachhaltige Produkte/6/en

The European Commission of Inquiry has promoted the now-common sustainable development model that is based on three pillars: economic, environmental and social. The Commission set out the guiding principles of future-oriented sustainable development as consisting of three dimensions: the ecological, economic and social dimension. The ecological dimension is based on the following sustainability rules: (a) The rate of exploitation of natural resources should not exceed their regeneration or functional replacement rate. (b) Emissions should be kept at or below the waste-absorptive capacity of the environment. (c) Threats or unacceptable risks to people and the environment should be prevented. (d) The duration of human interventions in the environment must be balanced against the time nature needs to self-stabilise. On the one hand, sustainable development is concerned with the economic and social component, separated from the strong original ecological connotation. On the other hand, the studies of the ecological dimension show that in order to be truly sustainable, wood products need to reach beyond the benefits of CO2 storage and sustainable forest management.