Strategies and indicators Flashcards
Sustainable development
definition : Brundtland report
- Sustainable development is a …
“development which meets the needs of current
generations without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs””
Sustainability & sustainable management
Strong sustainability
* Environment as basis of the social and economic dimension
* Eco centric view
Weak sustainability
* All three dimensions on the same level, can “replace” each other (main capital must stay the same)
* Anthropocentric view
- Sustainability, like development, is all about people
– little point achieving sustainable system that reduces
the quality of life of the people in that system
Strategy definition
“A method or plan chosen to bring about a desired future, such as achievement of a goal or solution to a problem”
- Important aspects are:
– Goal: what is the need of the strategy/its goal
– Plan: systematic idea how to achieve this goal
Sustainability Strategy:
Method or plan chosen to achieve/foster sustainable development (i.e. focused on promoting economic, environmental and social advancement)
Setting up a strategy
- Analysis (e.g. observing, collecting information)
- Find deficiencies (e.g. areas where you want to improve)
- Definition of goal (e.g. SMART goal) or vision
- Define indicators for monitoring
- Define actions plan (e.g. timeline, responsibilities, measures, etc.)
SMART Goals
Specific: State what you want to do
Measurable: Provide a way to evaluate
Achievable: Possible to accomplish?
Relevant: Does it make sense?
Timely: State when do you want to achieve it
Keeping a strategy alive and reasons why goal is not achievable
Reasons why goal is not achievable and has to be changed:
* Not a SMART goal
* Changed conditions, e.g. new technology or protests
* Goal is not supported by relevant stakeholder <-> Achievable
action plan -> carry out action plan -> review -> revise action plan LOOP
What Is an Indicator?
- Can be a sign, a number, a graphic, etc. -> measurement instrument
- Help for understanding of
– Where are you? (What ´ s the status)
– Which way are you going? (e.g. a target)
– How far away are you from where you want to be? - Information to summarise the characteristics of systems
Types of indicators
Indicator type: nature of data used by indicator (qualitative or quantitative, absolute or relative)
Quantitative indicators:
* Help to answer questions about things answering questions like:
– How many?
– How much?
– How often?
* Answered in numerical form
– X tons CO 2 emissions
– No. of children working in the textile sector
– X trainings per year
Qualitative indicators:
* Help to describe that something has
happened, occurs etc., answering questions like:
– How?
– When?
– Who?
– Where?
– Which?
– What?
– Why?
* Answered in verbal form, e.g.
– Adequate working conditions
– Social benefits provided by company
Semi-quantitative indicators
* Help to answer questions like:
– Does it exist?
– Are measures taken?
– Is it good, bad?
…thus questions which can be answered with yes/no or with defined values (good/bad, little/much etc.), e.g.
– Does the company respects human rights?
– Does the company have environmental standard?
Terminology: Data, Indicators, & Indices
Data
– Raw material
– In need of further processing (e.g. aggregation to national level, adjustment for
season, climate, economic cycles)
Statistics
– treated amount of data, often from official sources
– describing real phenomena according to an exact definition
Indicators
– messages without a need for further interpretation
Indices
- a group of indicators aggregated into a single value
– may require adjustments
– Aggregation of several indicators
Primarily used at the national level, e.g.
* Environmental Performance Index (Yale)
aggregates over 19 indicators of environmental performance
*‘Human Development Index’ (United Nations ( UN)):
→ combines life expectancy, education, and per capita income indicators
→ used to rank countries into four tiers of human development
Indicator set vs. Index
Indicator set: a group of indicators
selected to measure a specific topic
–Several results for the different indicators
– Harder to communicate
– Transparent
Index: a group of indicators
aggregated into a single value
– Single score result
– Easier to communicate
– Less transparent
What Makes It a Sustainability Indicator/index
Understandable & Useable
– otherwise not any effect on what people do
Relevant
– selection of indicators relevant for the decision process
Inter and intra generational equity
– not at the expense of others: What goes around comes around!
Long term view
– long term goal = long term indicators
Show linkages
– measure the cause, not just the effect or the result
Inter and intra generational equity
- Difference between equality and equity
– Equality: everyone gets the same support
(e.g. every country gets equal financial support
to adapt to climate change)
– Equity: individuals are given the support they need
(e.g. countries get individual support based on economic
development & need for adaptation measures) - Inter generational equity: the right of future generations to have access to resources*
- Intra generational equity: the right of all peoples within the current generation to have access to resources*
*resources include raw materials as well as economic support, environment, etc.
Sustainable indicator development
- Agenda 21 (relevant outcome of the 1992 Earth Summit, Rio
– Non binding, voluntarily implemented action plan with regard to sustainable development
– Calls for harmonisation of efforts to develop a set of indicators - UN Commission on Sustainable Development
– Defining appropriate sets of indicators & explaining their methodologies - Millennium development goals (MDG)
– Agreed on in 2000 → 8 goals , 21 targets , 60 indicators - Sustainable Development goals (SDG)
– New 2030 agenda
Why so many frameworks and indicator sets
- Many frameworks/sets/concepts/indicators…
– from different initiatives
– for different situations/contexts
– on different levels…
Often very similar, but with different focuses
*There is no “one worldwide valid indicator set”, which fits for all purposes…and there ´ ll probably never be one
* Also, data availability influences the indicators which are eventually used
* The many frameworks, which are already available allow for monitoring of agreed indicators, for orientation, for management etc..
Methodology for indicator selection
Starting point:
– Many indicators are available
– How to chose which one fits best?
- Define the Scope e.g. regional, global scale)
- Choose appropriate indicator framework
(e.g. addressing the environmental dimension only or all - Define criteria for indicator selection
(e.g. policy relevance, applicability/ measurability, analytical - Select indicators/ indicator set
(e.g. based on the defined criteria, with stakeholder inclusion) - Data collection (e.g. via statistics, sustainability/environmental reports, reports from organisations)
