Concepts of Sustainable Development: A Multi-Criterial Approach

Concepts and terms related to sustainable development frequently overlap in contemporary foreign literature. The current system of concepts is redundant, lacks a unified approach, and needs a clearer theoretical and terminological structure. This article introduces a new classification of sustainable development definitions to more precisely characterize their scope goals, roles, conditions, nature, levels, and effectiveness. This classification system relies on a set of criteria reflecting the essence, nature, features, and specificity of concepts, such as sustainable development, corporate sustainability, and corporate social responsibility. The author identifies criteria characterizing the essence, conceptual foundations, conditions, and implementation mechanisms of sustainable development at the micro and macro levels. The synthesis of these categories and criteria resulted in a structured classification system. The defined terms reflect: 1) the fundamental approach; 2) initiation; 3) the implementation level; 4) the implementation mechanism; 5) prioritization within the triple bottom line approach; 6) activity type.