This briefing note, prepared by the Independent Research Forum on a Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda (IRF2015), offers principles and approaches for integrating economic, social and environmental sustainability and equity in a new post-2015 development agenda. The paper is the first in a series that will examine how post-2015 goals and strategies can address development issues such as water, agriculture and food security, energy security, and urbanisation in a way that integrates their environmental, economic and social dimensions.