Indicators of Sustainable Development in America

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Indicators of Sustainable Development in America

• David Schaller
• U. S. Environmental Protection Agency
• International Symposium on
• Indicators of Sustainable Development
• Taipei, Taiwan
• December 1, 2000

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Introduction

• Sustainable Development is an evolving process -
  not an end point
• Why the policy interest in Sustainable
  Development?
• The importance of measurement and the use of
  indicators
• Advantages and risks
• Creating a policy framework
• The United States experiment

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Sustainable Development - A Working Definition

• An evolving process that improves the economy,
  the environment, and society for the benefit of
  current and future generations
• Sustainable Development is about dynamics, not
  absolutes
• How do we measure a moving target?

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New Policy Interest in Sustainable
Development

• Problems are increasingly multi-dimensional
• Our knowledge and expertise is expanding
• The world is becoming a smaller place
• Technology gives us new ways of looking at the
  world
• Problems are becoming harder to ignore
• We have an opportunity to integrate our needs,
  our goals, and our competing demands

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Sustainable Development Its All About
Measurement

• We need to ask the right questions
• Look not just at symptoms but also root
  causes of non-sustainability
• Understand linkages and feedback loops
• Apply intergenerational considerations
• Measures are meaningless if they cant be
  communicated

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Developing Indicators

• The world is complex and changing, with
  conflicting signals all around us
• There is need for a framework
• One model begins with long-term endowments and
  liabilities
• then examines economic, ecological, and
  social-cultural-political processes and
• lastly, identifies results
• Multi-generational application possible

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Indicator Framework with Flow of Information
Long-term Endowments and Liabilities
Long-term Endowments and Liabilities
Processes Economic Environmental Social
Processes
Current Results
Current Results
Time
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Indicator Framework with Flow of Information
Long-term Endowments and Liabilities
Long-term Endowments and Liabilities
Processes Economic Environmental Social
Processes
Current Results
Current Results
Time
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Long-term Endowments and Liabilities

• Current Climate
• Current Sea Levels
• Availability of fossil fuel reserves
• Availability of renewable energy reserves
• Built infrastructure and existing technologies

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Indicator Framework with Flow of Information
Long-term Endowments and Liabilities
Long-term Endowments and Liabilities
Processes Economic Environmental Social
Processes
Current Results
Current Results
Time
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Processes

• Environmental regulation
• Fiscal policy-making
• Climate/weather processes
• Energy generation and use
• Ecosystem interactions

• Agricultural production
• Natural resource consumption
• Emission of greenhouse gases
• Investment in RD

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Indicator Framework with Flow of Information
Long-term Endowments and Liabilities
Long-term Endowments and Liabilities
Processes Economic Environmental Social
Processes
Current Results
Current Results
Time
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Current Results

• Current weather patterns
• Current cost and availability of energy
• Current agricultural productivity
• Current ecosystem distribution patterns
• Current distribution of disease vectors

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Advantages and Risks of Using Indicators

• Advantages Risks
• Promise of new information Unmet
  expectations
• Show interrelationships Requires much
  data
• Help us anticipate the future Cost of
  information
• More informed decisions Unwanted
  answers

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Creating a Policy Framework

• Create a statement of vision
• Create a declaration of policy
• Identify sustainability criteria
• Optimize scope and scale of actions to
  be taken
• Assign responsibilities
• Report and communicate findings
• Continue to refine and improve each step as new
  information becomes available

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Sustainable Development Indicators and the
American Experience

• US Interagency Working Group (1998)
• Indicators established for endowments and
  liabilities, processes, and results
• Trends identified
• Informed decisions now more possible

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An experimental set of indicatorsLong-term
endowments and liabilities
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An experimental set of indicators Processes
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An experimental set of indicators Current
Results
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Conclusions on the use of Sustainable Development
indicators

• Indicators never tell the full story
• They are a tool for examining important
  issues in a comprehensive fashion
• Indicators make for a more informed policy
  debate
• Without action, indicators are meaningless