Environment / B2

s-uh-STAYN-uh-bl/səˈsteɪnəbl/

Sustainable means able to continue without damaging the environment or running out, or able to be kept going: sustainable transport; sustainable funding. Renewable is about energy sources; viable is “able to work”. A sustainable transport plan still needs a costed route. Verb: sustain (already elsewhere). Mix-up: obtainable means you can get it; unsustainable is the opposite. Do not call a one-off tree-planting day a sustainable policy by itself.

Meaning

Able to continue without damaging the environment or running out; also able to be kept going.

Examples

• “A sustainable transport plan still needs a costed bus route, not a slogan.”
• “The club is not financially sustainable on cake sales, which is the keep-going sense.”

Good to know

sustainable + noun; sustainability; sustainably. Energy twin: renewable. Trap: obtainable. Geography, economics, and citizenship. Lasting without exhaustion, not merely available.

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