The Brundtland Report in 1987 described ‘sustainable development’ as development that ‘meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’. In a comprehensive joint study in 2000 of the link between energy use and production and sustainable development, the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the World Energy Council declared in their report, World Energy Assessment: Energy and the Challenge of Sustainability (hereafter referred to as World Energy Assessment) that there are two important features of the link between energy production and use and sustainable development:

In its chapter on energy resources and technological development, the World Energy Assessment went on to consider the appropriate options available for using energy in ways supportive of sustainable development consistent with addressing environmental concerns. The report identified three major options:

• Greater use of energy efficiency, in terms of energy use in buildings, electric appliances, motor vehicles and industrial production processes.

• Increased reliance on renewable energy resources.

• Accelerated development of new energy technologies, in particular next-generation fossil fuel technologies. Nuclear technologies could also be included if the environmental problems associated with nuclear energy could be resolved.