This year 25 years have passed since the UN World Commission on Environment and Development launched its final report entitled “Our Common Future”. Fulfilling its aims is a major challenge for the society since then. In seeking solutions for the role of physical activity for public health, the aim of sustainable development adds specific challenges. In my lecture I will provide a basis for reflections on these issues, and elaborate on possible consequences for physical education, the sport movement and the public health sector. Finally I will provide examples of research on environmental changes in line with a sustainable development which also can stimulate physical activity and thereby public health.