"Sustainable development, environmental sustainability, green economies and green growth are issues which are of great importance for both the research and the policy agenda. The present paper clearly defines the concepts of sustainability and environmental sustainability and provides a conceptual framework for developing sustainability-founded cost benefit rules. It shows that a certain policy cannot necessarily simultaneously satisfy sustainable development and environmental sustainability objectives, the development of green economies, and the attainment of development or green growth.This is important for decision makers because it suggests using more than one criterion depending on the combination of the objectives to be pursued.The cost benefit rules presented in this paper could provide a basis for a clear distinction among objectives and for project selection mechanisms that promote single or multiple objectives."

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