This research project aims to assess development projects in the energy sector with its focus on the shale gas exploration in the Karoo. The assessment is based on a critical analysis of the concepts and principles of sustainability, complexity and the National Environmental Management Act, using a critical hermeneutics methodology to develop an assessment criterion. Critical hermeneutics is the science and art of interpreting texts, challenging the status quo, its influences and assumptions. Hermeneutics is the reaction to enlightenment fundamentalism, which is an over-reliance on rationality and the scientific method as a primary means of obtaining truth. Hence this research has adopted a triangulation of ideas and concepts derived from sustainability and complexity to find the truth about the sustainability of development projects (Cilliers, 1998; Deleuze & Guattari, 1994; Byrne, 1998). The Central Karoo is situated in the North Eastern part of the Western Province. It is characterised by dry, arid conditions with highly environmentally sensitive land. Central Karoo has the smallest concentration of people in the Western Cape (Van Vuuren, 2008). This research project offers an assessment that will help governments determine the feasibility of energy sector projects since it discusses the impact of exploration for shale gas in the Karoo and explains the process, recommendations and the environmental legislature required for any project to take place in South Africa. Further, it highlights the environmental damage caused by the shale gas exploration as well as the positive economic impact that it could have on the country. For this research, hermeneutics has offered a framework rather than a system; it is a research philosophy that places human experience at the forefront as it honours a variety of interpretations.