The term “sustainable development” in the oil and gas industry should not be used to mean sustaining the production of oil and gas indefinitely. The term refers to sustainability of human existence by carefully balancing social, economic and environmental capital in a continuously changing world. The oil and gas industry’s role in sustainable development should be to meet the needs of the global society for oil and gas at a reasonable cost, safely and with minimal impact on the environment until suitable alternate energy sources are available.
The concept of sustainable development dates back to the UN Conference on Human Development held in Stockholm in 1972, which was the first formal meeting of the international community to consider global environment and development needs. The UN then set up the World Commission on Environment and Development, also called the Brundtland Commission, that defined sustainable development in their 1987 report, Our Common...
