THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND ECONOMIC GROWTH
The word "sustainable", as well as the ideas of the concept of sustainable development, can be heard quite often lately. However, the fact is that the mentioned terms are often misused for marketing and profit purposes, and, unethically, sometimes even for "greenwashing" purposes. This leads to mistrust and creates an obstacle in the creation of a more sustainable world and leads to the conclusion that sustainable development and economic growth are two contradictory terms. This article describes the relationship between sustainable development and economic growth and explains how sustainability reporting can effectively stimulate economic growth. However, in order to reach a sustainable model, it is very important to educatate society about this concept, so that the new insights about the perception of economic growth can be gained and that is the way how the whole civilization can accomplish the change of focus - from profit maximization to optimization in the use of all resources. The conclusion that can be made is that, at this stage of development, we desperately need a sustainable transformation of our society.