Indicators
There has been a great deal of creative and talented thinking on the subject of sustainability indicators and national indicator systems by many individuals and organizations. The list below should be considered a starting point, not an exhaustive list.
1. National Sustainability Indicators
General Background
a. Bellagio Meeting November 1996
***Bellagio Principles - These principles deal with four aspects of assessing progress toward sustainable development. Principle 1 deals with the starting point of any assessment—establishing a vision of sustainable development and clear goals that provide a practical definition of that vision in terms that are meaningful for the decision-maker. Principles 2 through 5 deal with the content of any assessment and the need to merge a sense of the overall system with a practical focus on current priority issues.
Principles 6 through 8 deal with key issues of the process of assessment, while Principles 9 and 10 focus on the necessity for establishing a continuing capacity for assessment.
The full statement can be found at:
www.iisd.org/measure/principles/progress/bellagio_full.asp
b. Pocantico Meeting March 2002
***Pocantico Statement on the Need for National Indicators of Sustainability for the United States of America:
www.sustainabilityindicators.org/workgroups/NIC/PocanticoStatement.pdf
[PDF/45KB]
***Pocantico Draft Characteristics of a National Sustainability Indicator System
www.sustainabilityindicators.org/workgroups/NIC/DraftCharacteristics.html
***Developing National Carbon Performance Metrics.doc – a brief overview of what a system of metrics related to Carbon might look like for the US. Written to provide input to the Presidential Climate Action Plan process. (Available at www.summits.ncat.org/indicators.php)
2. National Level Indicator Efforts
a. The US
Interagency Working Group on Sustainable Development Indicators – www.sdi.gov/
Council on Environmental Quality – (Ted – is there a URL we can point to here or a document or pdf we can put up on the site?)
US EPA Report on the Environment - www.epa.gov/indicators/index.htm
***The H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment:
State of the Nation’s Ecosystem Report: www.heinzctr.org/ecosystems/
US Resource Roundtables
Sustainable Water Resource Roundtable: http://acwi.gov/swrr/
*** Sustainable Forest Roundtable: www.sustainableforests.net/ - includes information and links to the Indicators and Criteria of the Montreal Process on the Conservation and Sustainable Management of Temperate and Boreal Forests – has examples of National, State, Regional and local use of the Criteria and Indicators
Sustainable Rangeland Roundtable: http://sustainablerangelands.warnercnr.colostate.edu/
Sustainable Minerals Roundtable: www.unr.edu/mines/smr/
***Calvert-Henderson Quality of Life Indicators: www.Calvert-Henderson.com
b. Other Countries/Global
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Environment
Directorate’s Environmental Data and Indicators - includes a link to the OECD’s Key Environmental Indicators 2007 Report and OECD Environmental Indicators: Development, Measurement and Use, a reference paper on the OECD indicators and framework.
www.oecd.org/department/0,2688,en_2649_34441_1_1_1_1_1,00.html
Canada’s National Round Table On Environment and Economy - Environment and Sustainable Development Indicators for Canada Report:
www.nrtee-trnee.ca/eng/publications/sustainable-development-indicators
/index-sustainable-development-indicators-eng.htm
Global Footprint Network: www.footprintnetwork.org/
3. Work at the state level on indicators
***a. Work in Oregon on indicators, indicator systems and sustainability
Oregon Progress Board: www.oregon.gov/DAS/OPB/
Sustainability and the Oregon Benchmarks: www.oregon.gov/DAS/OPB/sustain.shtml
Governor Kulongoski's Executive Order 06-02 - Sustainability for the 21st Century (January 2006):
http://governor.oregon.gov/Gov/pdf/eo0602.pdf [PDF/56KB]
Oregon’s Sustainability Toolkit: www.sustainableoregon.net/toolkit/
***b. New Jersey Sustainable State Institute
http://njssi.org/ - includes a link to information on a collaborative process to develop energy targets for the state
***c. Minnesota Sustainable Development Initiative and Indicators
www.eqb.state.mn.us/SDI/ although the link to the indicators is broken.
The actual location of the indicators page is www.eqb.state.mn.us/resource.html?Id=18012
4. Local Level Sustainability Indicators
*** Santa Monica California – Sustainable City Program: http://santa-monica.org/epd/
Minneapolis Sustainability Initiative - www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/sustainability/index.asp
***Whistler 2020 - www.whistler2020.ca
US EPA Report to the EPA Administrator: Everyday Choices—Opportunities for Environmental Stewardship
www.epa.gov/innovation/stewardship/index.htm
5. Business Reporting and Use of Sustainability Measures
Global Reporting Initiative (GRI): www.globalreporting.org
The Global Environmental Management Inititative’s Water Sustainability Work Group: www.gemi.org/water/
6. Other Sustainability Indicator Sources
Sustainable Measures – The Guide to Sustainable Community Indicators: www.sustainablemeasures.com
A Footprint Calculator from the Earth Day Network and Redefining Progress:
www.earthday.net/Footprint/index.asp