Potentially, the most influential concept of ecological economics is to promote sustainability of the human economic system within the limitations of ecology. Ecological economics is not an critique of capitalism or any other narrow economic paradigm; instead, it is a reevaluation of the nature of modern economic thought. Western cultural ideals of humanism and progress prevented sustainability from becoming a conscious cultural component as it is in other cultures. However, the study of ecology has made sustainability a necessary framework for our economic system.

Inter-species and intra-species resource distribution and intergenerational justice are issues attached to the main concept of sustainability. Certain balances must be maintained in the energy and material flow between species and between individuals within our species (which is monopolizing much of the gross primary production) for the system to be sustainable. The idea of intergenerational justice demonstrates that it is unjust to future generations to heavily discount the value of natural capital in the future. Some non-economic environmental theorists use the term intrinsic value. In the environmental sense, intrinsic value describes value that exists outside the economic system but inside the ecological system. Discounting makes sense when calculating the value of a car in the future, but not a wetland ecosystem.

Ecological economics is a challenge to the sovreignty of the consumer. Because ecology is the larger framework, the consumer should be constrained by the necessities of ecological sustainability. Ecological services' perceived value must be increased to achieve sustainability. Ecological economics attempts to validate that statement and quantify those values.