Where the words come from
The definition of sustainable development — National Planning Policy Framework, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (August 2026), paragraph 16, GOV.UK, Open Government Licence v3.0. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/national-planning-policy-framework. Changes: "At a very high level, the objective of sustainable development can be summarised as" cut so the sentence reads as a definition; the Framework attributes the wording to United Nations General Assembly resolution 42/187.
The production possibility frontier between economic output and environmental protection, points P, Q, S, T and the inefficient point M, market-oriented tools delivering the same protection at lower cost, and growth measured by real GDP — Principles of Economics 2e, OpenStax, licensed CC BY 4.0. https://openstax.org/books/principles-economics-2e/pages/12-6-the-tradeoff-between-economic-output-and-environmental-protection and https://openstax.org/books/principles-economics-2e/pages/19-3-tracking-real-gdp-over-time. Changes: Figure 12.5's reading condensed; point R dropped; "command-and-control environmental laws" put as "rigid rules" and market-oriented tools named as pollution taxes and tradable permits; the chart is our own drawing of 2e's frontier; the recap is ours, summarising this page's sources; British spelling.
Produced, human and natural capital per person between 1992 and 2014, nature's worth missing from market prices, and the review's rejection of technology overcoming nature's limits — The Economics of Biodiversity: The Dasgupta Review, Headline Messages, HM Treasury (February 2021), Open Government Licence v3.0. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/final-report-the-economics-of-biodiversity-the-dasgupta-review. Changes: Three headline messages condensed to three sentences; "much of it is open to all at no monetary charge" kept close to verbatim; the review's account of growth models ("the focus has been to show that technological progress can, in principle, overcome that exhaustibility") restated as the view the review challenges.
The UK's 44 per cent cut in emissions and 78 per cent growth between 1990 and 2019, and the claim that tackling climate change and growth go hand in hand — Net Zero Strategy: Build Back Greener, HM Government (October 2021), Open Government Licence v3.0. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/net-zero-strategy. Changes: Chapter 1, paragraph 5 condensed; "faster than any other G7 country" kept; the note that these figures count emissions produced within the UK is ours, from the territorial basis of the national emissions statistics the Strategy cites.
The UK carbon footprint: emissions from goods and services produced and consumed in the UK down 49 per cent and emissions from imports up 43 per cent between 1996 and 2023, imports now more than half the footprint — Carbon footprint for the UK and England to 2023, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (June 2026), GOV.UK, Open Government Licence v3.0. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uks-carbon-footprint/carbon-footprint-for-the-uk-and-england-to-2023. Changes: The main point on the shift towards imported emissions condensed; the definition of the carbon footprint shortened.
Low-income countries weighting output and higher-income countries protection, economists having little to say about the choice along the frontier, and high-income countries as the main contributors to global warming — Principles of Economics 2e, OpenStax, licensed CC BY 4.0. https://openstax.org/books/principles-economics-2e/pages/12-5-international-environmental-issues and https://openstax.org/books/principles-economics-2e/pages/12-6-the-tradeoff-between-economic-output-and-environmental-protection. Changes: The 12.6 sentences on the choice along the frontier and on low- and high-income countries condensed, with China dropped; 12.5's point on moral standing condensed; the closing sentence on people not yet born is ours; British spelling.
Questions, options, diagrams and feedback are our own. Figures credited to a source above are that source's; every other figure is invented to show the method.