This contribution highlights the need for a systemic, multi-disciplinar, multidimensional approach to the environmental dimension of sustainable development. For this purpose, the author faces the main changes in EU strategy regarding the environment, the role of firms with respect to sustainable development and finally the relevance for a demand-pulled mechanism leading such a development. In the final part the primary role of the environmental issue is stressed in order to orient economic systems towards sustainability.
Keywords: Environmental dimension, Sustainable development, Demand-pulled approach