The concept of Sustainable Development was presented for the first time in 1987 by the World Commission on Environment and Development, in the report Our Common Future . The commission was created by the United Nations, and was made of 21 nations, including Canada. The commission, headed by Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, said that the planet needs " a new era of environmentally sustainable sound economic development". Dr. Brundtland also said that government must strongly support "a new political approach to environment and development, where economic and fiscal policies, trade and foreign policies, energy, agriculture, industry, and other sectorial policies, all aim to induce development that is not only economically but ecologically sustainable."

The complete definition of Sustainable Development was researched and developed along with a method of measurement. The technical definition of Sustainable Development was given as being:

"a sound balance among the interactions of the impacts (positive and/or negative), or stresses, on the four major quality systems: People, Economic Development, Environment and Availability of Resources."

The non-technical definition was given as being:

"a sound balance among the interactions designed to create a healthy economic growth, preserve environmental quality, make wise use of our resources, and enhance social benefits."

Two indicators local/global indicators were developed to measure sustainable development. The Gross Environmental Sustainable Development Indicator (GESDI) and the Gross Sustainable Development Product (GSDP). The GSDP is defined as the total value of production within a region over a specified period of time.

The measurement of GSDP gives a proper and sound signal to the public, government and industry about the rate and direction of economic growth; it identifies environmental, health, and social quality; it identifies sustainable and unsustainable levels of resource and environmental uses; it measures the success or failure of sustainable development policies and practices; and it identifies resource scarcity. Values obtained enable us to make meaningful comparisons of sustainable development between cities, provinces, nations over the entire planet. The world population is becoming more urban. It is the quality of the urban environment and its well-being that constitutes a challenge to any society. Cities are the centres of economic and cultural life of a nation's population. The public wants government expenditures to be directed to areas such as urban development, health, housing, education, crime prevention, recreation, environmental pollution control, waste management, aesthetic satisfaction, well-being and many others. It is important to have social indicators that can tell us about the quality and costs of essential elements such as: educational and cultural facilities, suitable community facilities and services, proper shelter, family life, security from crime, efficient and environmentally conscious transportation, social justice, aesthetic satisfaction, and minority status. GESDI can be obtained for all quality indicators that are difficult to give a money value to. Both the GESDI and GSDP are measured together and tell us about the quality and cost of development, locally and globally.

We now have a way of dealing with globalization: global ethics. In the past, corporation’s rule without checks and balances. For now on there will be checks and balances. Our judgement will be based on global ethics. Global ethics must always be grounded in realities. But realities are changing constantly and are different in different places. We live in a world that makes progress toward democracy. Ethics and morality exist only when human beings can act freely. In our free society, rights are tied to responsibilities. Corporations are committed to improvement in business performance and want to be seen as 'good corporate citizens' on a local and a global scale. Corporations have social responsibilities as they are an integral part of society. Global ethics recalls that those realities, on which others build upon, have to be protected first. A classical example is, that to the stewardship of the ecological base (the base of life) has to be given priority before the fulfillment of various economic and social wishes. Demands resulting from the social system of a particular country have to find their limits in the protection of the global ecosystem or the aim of maximization of labour productivity in agriculture and forestry should not be realised at the expense of biodiversity landscapes.

Vital interests of future generations have to be considered as having priority before less vital interests of the present generation. Typical examples are climate change, fresh water, clean air and soil erosion.

Supply chains have to be designed in a way, that the goods can enter after usage or consumption into natural or industrial recycling processes. If serious damages to persons, animals, plants and the ecosystem cannot be excluded, an action or pattern of behaviour should be refrained from. A striking example is the use of negotiations and community principles to resolve conflicts in other countries. Never use armed intervention to resolve a conflict. Never go to war.

A measure for supplying goods or services should choose a path which entails the least possible impact on the ecological and social system concerned. This way functioning proven systems will not be disturbed, and unnecessary risks will not be taken. The Polluter Pays Principle applies to all with no exception. Supply strategies consuming less resources should have preference before those enhancing more resource consumption. Strategies, which violate human dignity, should not be permitted. Examples are the expulsion of an indigenous population by the flooding of a valley for a hydroelectric power plant.

Earth Government has now at hand the method and framework to conduct societal checks and balances of sustainable development. A more balance world economy will result of annual checks and balances. Corporations will take their social responsibilities and become involved in designing, monitoring, and implementing these checks and balances. Several corporations have already done so. Results will be taken into account in the evaluation of sustainable development. Corporations are required to expand their responsibilities to include human rights, the environment, community and family aspects, safe working conditions, fair wages and sustainable consumption aspects. Earth Government has extended the idea of sustainability to be a moral and ethical state, as well as an economic and environmental state, wherein sustainable consumption patterns respect the universal values of peace, security, justice and equity within the human relationships that exist in the global community. When there is a need to find a solution to a problem or a concern, a sound solution would be to choose a measure, if possible, which causes reversible damage as oppose to a measure causing an irreversible loss.