The Real Barriers to Sustainability

It is sometimes argued that there are many technological and economic barriers to sustainability. It is my experience that these are seldom the most important barriers. In fact, we are surrounded with sustainable technologies—in energy and water systems, transportation, industry—that are not in common use. And contrary to common perception, these technologies are often not themselves more expensive than the alternative.

Instead, the main barriers to sustainability are institutional and behavioural. They can be found in our codes of practice, job descriptions, performance evaluation criteria, social norms, regulatory requirements, etc. These are the rules that actually govern what we do on Monday morning, and even on the weekends. They prevent organizations from implementing otherwise economic and technologically viable sustainability solutions. Because they are different from more traditional solutions, and don’t fit the highly path dependent patterns of existing behaviour, they take substantial time and effort to change.

One example is sustainable buildings. There is growing evidence that highly sustainable buildings are not more costly to build than those that are not. But to be successful they require design and construction practices, and an engagement with building operators and inhabitants, which are not just unusual but actually violate existing standards, codes, rules of practice and norms.

The implications of this are significant. We need to focus much more on the institutional and behavioural sides of sustainability. It is good to have technology policies that set targets and goals. But let’s also focus strongly on changing the job descriptions, evaluation criteria, and codes of practice.