Sustainability challenges businesses and society to measure and value economic development in new ways. It challenges engineers perhaps most of all. ... The problems of the environment and of social and economic equity are interrelated, and their solutions are technological in nature. I believe that engineers and the National Academy of Engineering have a special role to play in this regard.
— Robert A. Frosch, a member of the National Academy of Engineering, The Bridge, Vol. 29, Spring 1999

Sustainable development brings economic as well as environmental benefits.
— Profession Practice Curriculum (PPC) module, Rewards and Challenges, online.

The problem is that [humankind] has become so dependent on nonrenewable resources and on technology from the old growth paradigm that changing to new-paradigm engineering will take considerable effort and ingenuity. ... Just as engineers use safety factors due to the overriding need for safety, they should similarly use a sustainability factor because of the overriding need for sustainability. The safety of the human race in the future demands it no less than the safety of the human race in the present demands a safety factor.
— Profession Practice Curriculum (PPC) module online.

The United States and all nations have an obligation to continue prudent and cost-effective measures to promote efficient use of natural resources, conservation, recycling, and environmentally responsible waste disposal. It remains the responsibility of the engineering community to provide technical leadership to address the world's environmental challenges.
— AAES Climate change policy (1999) addressing reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

In order to stay competitive, tomorrow's engineer will need to become more culturally savvy, as well as adept at implementing appropriate technologies. Capacity building is not about constructing a showcase engineering project. It's about coming up with practical, sustainable solutions that fit the environment, its people and the culture as well.
— Cathy Leslie, executive director of EWB-USA

Clearly incorporating the concepts of intergenerational equity and ecological capabilities would be a challenge for scientists and engineers in designing processes and products.
— AIChE Sustainable Engineering Forum (SEF)

Creating a sustainable world that provides a safe, secure, healthy life for all peoples is a priority for the US engineering community. It is evident that US engineering must increase its focus on sharing and disseminating information, knowledge and technology that provides access to minerals, materials, energy, water, food and public health while addressing basic human needs. Engineers must deliver solutions that are technically viable, commercially feasible and, environmentally and socially sustainable.
— A Declaration by US Engineering Community for Sustainability, initiated by the National Academy of Engineering, U.S. State Department, American Association of Engineering Societies, and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, served as the engineering community's statement to the World Summit on Sustainable Development, 2002. Endorsed by ASME's Environmental Engineering Division, the statement was also in affiliation with the American Society of Civil Engineers, Engineers International Roundtable, and the World Federation of Engineering Organizations' Committee on Sustainable Technology.

The [engineering] profession needs to adopt a new vision to ensure that future engineers are broadly educated, become leaders in the private and public sectors, and represent all parts of society. They also must be able to learn and adapt quickly and be capable of informing public policy. ... several possible scenarios, such as breakthroughs in nanotechnology, natural disasters caused by climate change, and global conflicts caused by an unequal distribution of resources, [help] to determine what skills future engineers might need. These potential situations would require that engineers have the capability to develop sustainable technology and to communicate ideas to different groups, including the government, private sector, and the public.
— From NSPE's Engineering Times, July 2004, the report cited is "The Engineer of 2020: Visions of Engineering in the New Century," sponsored by the National Science Foundation, NEC Foundation of America, SBC Foundation, Honeywell International, and the National Academy of Engineering Fund, available online. Summary at Community of Practice on Sustainable Engineering.

Likewise, what is environmentally sound in one country or region may not be in another, unless it is redesigned or adapted to make it appropriate for addressing local needs. ... This [environmentally sound technology] captures the full life cycle flow of the material, energy and water in the production and consumption system. It also implies the development and application of environmentally sound technologies underpinned by more holistic environmental management strategies based on the characteristics of natural systems, which include species diversity; resilience; adaptiveness; regenerative capacity; interconnectedness; spatial and temporal fluctuation; etc.
— UN Environment Programme, International Environmental Technology Centre, Freshwater Management Series No. 7, Phytotechnologies, A Technical Approach in Environmental Management.

Sustainable development challenges organisations and individuals to confront a series of painful choices — between economic growth, social justice and natural resources; between further industrialisation of the North, and the under-development of the South; between wealth for the few, and poverty and hunger for the many; between globalisation and localisation; between gratification of human desires and the survival of other animal and plant species.
— John Benington, director of the Warwick Institute of Governance and Public Management at Warwick Business School, "Adaptive Leadership," Community of Practice on Sustainable Engineering forum article.

Global warming caused by fossil fuel emissions is a serious problem, but it is a problem created by technology for which there are technological solutions. ... The small number of affluent nations that are responsible for about half of CO 2 emissions can take unilateral steps that would drastically reduce the global warming problem right now.
— Michael Lind, Whitehead senior fellow at the New America Foundation in Washington, D.C., July 2004, "A Future Population of 9bn Can Enjoy the Lifestyle of Today's Rich Without Crippling the Environment."

Market reform, to promote competitive pricing, technological innovation, customer choice and trade in energy services, coupled with appropriate regulation to address fairness and sustainability issues (such as capacity, reliability, affordability and environmental goals) is the first priority of energy policy. Keeping energy options open in face of growing demand for electricity is a close second.
— Energy for People, Energy for Peace: Markets, Sustainability and Drivers, Gerald Doucet, World Energy Council (ASME's International Pipeline Conference, Calgary, Canada, 2002).

By participating with others in civil society in the development of global environmental principles, ethics and policies, engineers will become respected partners in the future built environment and in the implementation of a sustainable future for humanity. Engineering participation in the evolving Earth Charter presents a rare opportunity. Around the world, the Earth Charter process is building in intensity each month and engineering visibility is almost totally missing in the process. ... Without our involvement, our absence will be noticed, and we will lose a platform from which to explain the value of engineering to the quality of life for all people.
— James W. Poirot,"Engineering Implications in the Earth Charter," World Congress on Sustainable Development, Engineering & Technological Challenges of the 21st Century; Calcutta, India, January 21, 2000.