Energy, agricultural, trade or development policies can systematically examine the impact on other countries or on global ecosystems and look for ways to reduce that impact. In fact, that should be a logical part of any policy that calls itself sustainable.

A (sustainability) policy that focuses narrowly on sustainability in Europe and that overlooks the international effects can easily create the illusion that we are actually doing well, while in fact the negative consequences of our production and consumption patterns are passed on. on the south and on future generations.

This illusion is broken with concepts such as ecological debt or ecologically unequal exchange, and instruments such as the ecological footprint and material flow analysis.

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