‘“Only one Earth” marked a watershed in the evolution of humanities relationship with the earth and global concern about the environment’

United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, 1972

‘Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’

Our Common Future: World Commission on Sustaianble Development, United Nations, 1987

‘… Protecting and managing the natural resource base for economic and social development’.

‘The Future We Want’, Outcome document of the 2012 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, United Nations.

‘Sustainable development calls for robust economic development and a long term convergence in living standards between rich and poor countries in ways that are socially equitable and respect planetary boundaries’

Sustainable Development Network, United Nations, at the launch of ‘The World in 2050: Pathways towards a sustainable future’, March 2015.

‘… we have a hard time grasping what it means to live within planetary limits … transforming key systems such as transport, energy, housing and food systems lies at the heart of long-term remedies … as well as redesign of systems that have steered these provisioning systems and have created unsustainable lock-ins: finance, fiscal, health, legal and education’

The European Environment - state and outlook 2015: synthesis report, European Environment Agency, 2015

‘… China wants to write the rules for the worlds's fastest growing region … why would we let that happen? We should write those rules’

President State of the Union Address January 15, 2015.

‘… To build a community of common destiny … The interests of others must be accommodated while pursuing one's own interests, and common development must be promoted while seeking one' own development … security should be given equal emphasis as development, and sustainable development surely provides a way to sustainable security’.

Keynote Speech by H.E. Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China, at the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2015, 28 March 2015