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The concept of technology assessment – an entire process to sustainable development
Author(s) -
Ludwig Bjørn
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
sustainable development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.115
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1099-1719
pISSN - 0968-0802
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-1719(199712)5:3<111::aid-sd72>3.0.co;2-a
Subject(s) - sustainable development , sustainability , earth summit , process (computing) , summit , process management , order (exchange) , life cycle assessment , audit , environmental impact assessment , computer science , environmental resource management , environmental planning , management science , risk analysis (engineering) , business , engineering , environmental science , political science , accounting , economics , geography , ecology , macroeconomics , finance , physical geography , production (economics) , law , biology , operating system
The ‘widespread agreement’ for sustainability requirements concerning any future development is an expression applicable only to the abstract level of the discussion. Due to the huge number of aspects of sustainable development considered after the Rio Earth Summit, it is difficult to find the same agreement in a more detailed form. Focusing on the chief aspects of the discussion about sustainable development, namely the global problems that have progressively developed since the 1960s, the concept of technology assessment (TA) is obviously based on the same origins, although developed separately. TA is a powerful strategy with which to generate the appropriate technologies necessary to achieve any sustainable development. In this contribution, TA studies are introduced as sustainable feasibility studies, a tool to help sustainable development become operational. In order to unify the discussion and achieve increasing application of TA, a description of TA is presented that readily includes all instruments, such as life cycle assessment, environmental impact assessment or environmental audit, and makes the interactions between them visible. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment.