Abstract: Andrew Dobson offers an overview of the relationship between environmental sustainability and social justice. He suggests that there are three areas in which the discourses of these two social objectives overlap: the environment as something to be distributed; justice as functional for sustainability; ‘justice to the environment’. Justice and sustainability might sometimes pull in different directions because the former seeks to distribute environmental goods while the latter seeks to preserve them. Policies for justice will not therefore always be policies for sustainability–– and vice versa. Thus, claims that the sustainable development and environmental justice movements are movements simultaneously for justice and sustainability are called into question.

Keywords: discourse, distribution, environmental goods, environmental justice, environmental sustainability, policy, preservation, social justice, sustainable development,