The energy challenge

The subject of styles of development is not foreign to us, nor has it only recently become one of CEPAL’s concerns; it has been one for some time. Originally serving as an analytical category to dispel the anxiety of economists over the social failure or inefficiency of growth processes, it later acquired elements developed in the expanded international discussion of the various dimensions of development. The debate on development has thus been forced to follow the pronouncements of scientists which were publicized at a very opportune moment indeed by the work of the Club of Rome, through which d\e discussion on the meaning for humanity of the depletion of natural resources or the appearance of physical restrictions on the process of economic growth was brought up at the international level. These facts implied not only a scientific, but also an economic, social and political challenge, and at those levels the need to examine the styles of development which exert irrational pressure on natural resources and challenge physical restrictions was raised and discussed.