Abstract:
Sustainability must be a grundnorm or fundamental principle of law in a similar way as freedom, equality, justice and the rule of law. To give contour to that grundnorm the author analyses sustainability alternatives from two angles. One is sustainability as the alternative to the current collapse of financial, economic and ecological systems. The other is a comparison between New Zealand and Germany in regard to their treatment and response to sustainability. He concludes that there are many ways to give legal expression and political weight to the grundnorm but that the best starting-point remains the Earth Charter which was conceived in the spirit of the Brundtland Report.