Importance of Sustainable Development Indicators

Ted HeintzDepartment of the InteriorOffice of Policy Analysis

Some History:

Sustainability, achieved through the processes of Sustainable Development, has emerged as an important goal over the last 20 years.

In 1987, the Brundtland Commission Report, Our Common Future put forward the concept of Sustainable Development as development that

– meets the needs of the current generation– while not compromising the ability of future generations

to meet their needs.

Roles of National Indicators of Sustainable Development

To provide information for decision making.– high level decisions– management decisions– daily life decisions

To provide feedback needed for sustainable development.– developing a shared understanding of the

consequences of millions of actions.

Indicators Provide Feedback that Steers Social and Economic Action

Promote social learning: shared understanding and broader agreement about what needs to be done.

Promote evolution of management processes by showing what works and what doesn’t.

The process of indicator development is as valuable as the indicators we produce.

Experts, decision makers, and the public should work together in a participatory process.

Indicator selection is a process that requires broader concensus on goals.

We are what we measure. We need to measure what we want to be.

We are more likely to become what we can agree to measure. We need to agree on what we want to become.

Roles of Performance Measures for Sustainability

To provide accountability in the operation of government programs with objectives relevant to sustainability.

To provide feedback in order to promote learning about what works and what doesn’t.

To measure the contribution of specific programs to national progress toward sustainability.

The National SDI Framework

What We Are Trying to Assess?

What is Sustainability?

Consistent with the Brundtland definition,

Sustainability is the condition in which we are reasonably confident that

– As we are meeting the needs (and wants) of the current generation, we are also

– Passing along to future generations sufficient means for them to meet their needs (and wants).

Focusing on Future Generations by Measuring Endowments

The SDI Framework includes indicators for all our Endowments:

– all of the stocks and productive capacities we draw upon to meet our needs and then pass along to the future.

– economic or produced capital and infrastructure.– environmental or natural capital.– social capital.

We are the Trustees of our Endowments.

Long Term Endowments & Liabilities

Economic Environmental Social

Capital Assets Surface Water Quality U.S. Population

Labor Productivity

Acres of Major Terrestrial Ecosystems

Children Living in Families with Only One Parent Present

Federal Debt to GDP Ratio

Contaminants in BiotaTeacher Training Level and Application of Qualifications

Quantity of Spent Nuclear Fuel

Status of Stratospheric Ozone

Greenhouse Climate Response Index

Focusing on Future Generations by Measuring Endowment Changes

The SDI Framework includes indicators for Processes

– including the Driving Forces that change our Endowments.

– depreciation and investment in produced capital.– depletion and augmentation of natural resource stocks.– degradation and restoration of natural systems.– building social capital.

Processes

Economic Environmental SocialEnergy Consumption(per Capita and per $ of GDP) Ratio of Renewable Water Supply to

WithdrawalsContributing Time & Money to Charities

Materials Consumption (per Capita and per $ of GDP)

Fisheries Utilization Births to Single Mothers

Inflation Invasive Alien Species Educational Attainment by Level

Investment in R&D (% of GDP) Conversion of Cropland to Other UsesParticipation in the Arts & Recreation

Soil Erosion RatesPeople in Census Tracts with 40% or Greater Poverty

Timber Growth to Removals Balance

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Identification & Management of Superfund Sites

The SDI Framework includes indicators for Current Outputs and Results.

– economic goods and services that people use to meet their needs and wants.

– environmental services that meet peoples needs and wants.– experiences people have through social relationships that

met their needs and wants.

The SDI Framework provides an opportunity to measure output and the resulting satisfaction of needs and wants separately

Focusing on Meeting Current Needs

Current Results

Economic Environmental Social

Domestic ProductMetropolitan Air Quality Nonattainment

Crime Rate

Income DistributionOutdoor Recreational Activites

Life Expectancy at Birth

Consumption Expenditures Per Capita

Educational Achievement Rates

Unemployment

Homeownership Rates

% of Households in Problem Housing

Performance Measures for Sustainability

Measure Endowments you manage– measure capacities or stocks directly.– measure Driving Forces you cause that increase or

decrease those capacities.

Measure Endowments you affect– measure Driving Forces you cause that increase or

decrease Endowments you don’t manage.

Measure Current Outputs and Results you produce– trends can reveal increases or decreases in Endowments