The Brundtland Commission defines sustainable development as a “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” Since the publication of the Brundtland Report, the sustainability concept and its implementation have been discussed by the academic community and society in general and is now regarded as a solution for present and future problems of society.

The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg reaffirmed sustainable development as a crucial element for the future of the world and a keystone of the international agenda. The (WSSD) concluded with significant commitments and efforts to promote and boost sustainable development. It reaffirmed sustainable development as a central element of the international agenda and detected that fundamental changes in the way societies produce and consume goods are indispensable for achieving global sustainable development. Therefore, all countries should promote sustainable consumption and production patterns, the WSSD concluded.

Thus, the Brundtland Commission and the WSSD have introduced a critical new dimension into our conception of economic development by raising the issue of sustainability of development for resolving global environmental issues.

Papers are sought on models for sustainable development which could contribute to determining and to measuring whether we are working and living in a sustainable way, considering the key commitments of the Plan of Implementation of the WSSD, because we need information about the current and future conditions of the system of the earth in which we are now living and will still be living. With the use of models, current and future conflicting goals of sustainable development can be analysed systematically. We encourage contributions on all different kinds of models which are able to analyse and to measure sustainability.

Subject Coverage

We welcome work on both sector-specific bottom-up models and overall top-down models, including but not limited to:

* Energy-economy-environment models
* Engineering bottom-up models of energy systems
* Socio-economic micro-simulation models
* Economic models of sustainable development
* Overlapping generations models
* Stochastic models
* Neoclassical models
* Evolutionary models
* Ecological economic models
* Models based on input-output analysis
* Models of game theory
* Multi-agent models

Notes for Intending Authors

Submitted papers should not have been previously published nor be currently under consideration for publication elsewhere.

All papers are refereed through a peer review process. A guide for authors, sample copies and other relevant information for submitting papers are available on the Papers Submission section under Author Guidelines

Important Dates

Deadline for submission: 30 September 2006 First turn of papers review: 30 November 2006 Second turn of papers review: 31 December 2006 Final papers submission: 31 January 2007

Editors and Notes

You may send one copy of each manuscript (in hard copy) or one copy in the form of an MS Word file attached to an e-mail (details of both formats in Author Guidelines) to one of the following:

Holger Schlör
Research Centre Jülich
Systems Analysis and Technology Evaluation
52425 Jülich
Germany
Tel: (+49) 2461616971
Email: h.schloer@fz-juelich.de

Jürgen-Friedrich Hake
Research Centre Jülich
Head, Systems Analysis and Technology Evaluation
52425 Jülich
Germany
Tel: (+49) 2461613161
Email: jfh@fz-juelich.de

with an email copy only to:

Editor-in-Chief
IEL Editorial Office
E-mail: ijgenvi@inderscience.com

Please include in your submission the title of the Special Issue, the title of the Journal and the name of the Guest Editor.