​

The sustainable development paradigm (SD) is an approach to the production and consumption of goods and services that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Software engineering often follows this paradigm by making sure that software will last long enough for its user to meet their needs.

Software developers need to follow certain rules in order to make sure they are developing software sustainably. For example, they should make sure they are using resources efficiently, designing for reusability, write reusable code, design for testability and quality assurance, design with modularity in mind. If they do these things right then it is much easier for them to update or maintain their software project in the future.

Software developers should also have a conservation mindset when it comes to using resources.