At the beginning of the 1970s, several works were identified that report on the negative effects on the environment and some natural disasters6 due to the widespread environmental destruction caused by humans, emphasising the need to protect the environment and improve the quality of life.7 One of the results of this was the paradigm appearing in the works of many authors, which emphasised the finiteness of the planet’s resources and, with it, the unsustainable nature of an economy based on growth.8 At the same time, widespread criticism of the economic development programmes implemented in the developing world appeared due to the emphasis on short-term benefits and the neglect of environmental aspects,9 and then due to the lack of a deeper examination and consideration of social problems.10

The Club of Rome’s book ‘Limits to Growth’ emphasised the need for a sustainable world system.11 According to Grober,12 this work should be considered the first appearance of sustainability in modern times.

According to some, the 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm was the first global summit to address the dichotomy of economic development and environmental integrity.13

According to Ruggiero,14 the eco-development concept that developed in this period can be considered the predecessor of the modern concept of sustainable development. The eco -development concept - although it has not become widely known - primarily sought the answer to how it is possible to reconcile social development with the opportunities provided by ecosystems and the planet.15 In 1978, Ignacy Sachs defined eco-development as “an approach to development that aims to harmonise social and economic objectives with ecologically sound management in the spirit of solidarity with future generations.”16

The Kuznets hypothesis was widespread, according to which economic growth must have the means to remedy environmental damage.17 According to Du Pisani, by the 1980s, the double ecological and social critique of economic development began to intertwine in the definitions of sustainable development.18

There is no doubt, however, that the concept of sustainable development became widely known after the Brundtland report: in 1984, the UN General Assembly established the World Commission on Environment and Development, which, led by Brundtland, prepared its report entitled ‘Our Common Future.’ According to this, “sustainable development can be defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future generations.” Later, after the Rio Conference, a more intense period of strategy making followed. In 2006, the Stern Report drew attention to the need for international cooperation, and in 2015, the Paris Climate Conference wanted to ensure that the average temperature increase remained below two degrees Celsius. However, it is not this, but the program ‘Transforming our world: sustainable development until 2030’ and the formulated seventeen sustainable development goals (abbr. SDGs) approved by the Member States of the UN in 2015 that define the foundations of the system of sustainability rules, which were then integrated into the professional policy systems of many international organisations, such as the European Union.

As the concept gained momentum, it served as a framework for addressing problems associated with economic growth, leading to the birth of a paradigm that would create a more socially and environmentally sustainable model: sustainable economic growth.19

Most people associate the concept of sustainable development with the Brundtland report. At the same time, according to some, this definition is not specific enough to be able to identify indicators that determine the sustainability progress of countries based on it. Zhang and Dajian redefined the concept of sustainable development as “Achieving higher and more equally distributed well-being levels within ecological limits.”20 Galli et al. also highlighted that the measures supporting sustainable development are usually stronger at the national level,21 therefore individual states can contribute to global sustainable development through their national aspirations.22 In another definition, the goal of sustainable development is to establish a desirable link between economic, social and environmental systems that spans generations.23