Download or read book Measuring Sustainability and Decoupling written by Nordic Council of Ministers and published by Nordic Council of Ministers. This book was released on 2006 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is growing interest among policymakers for the prospects of decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation, in order to achieve improved environmental quality without compromising economic growth. However, whilst decoupling indicators give a reasonably good measure for potential or progress towards sustainability, decoupling is neither a sufficient nor a necessary condition for sustainability. Decoupling indicators, unlike many other statistical efforts related to the environment, are not meant to summarise the general state of the environment, but rather to measure countries' progress towards mitigating or alleviating particular environmental pressures from relevant driving forces.
Download or read book Measuring Sustainability and Decoupling written by Nordic Council of Ministers and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 69 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is growing interest, among policymakers, for the prospects of decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation, as they have a hard time disentangling environmental policies from their economic and social impacts. Opportunities for improved environmental quality without compromising economic growth are, and always will be, welcomed. Decoupling should not be thought of as an approximation of sustainability. While decoupling indicators often give a reasonably good measure for potential or progress towards sustainability, decoupling is neither a sufficient nor a necessary condition for sustainability. Decoupling indicators, unlike many other statistical efforts related to the environment, are not meant to be all-inclusive or to summarize the general state of the environment. Their purpose is rather to measure countries' progress towards mitigating or alleviating particular environmental pressures from the relevant driving forces. Decoupling indicators are primarily attractive for their simplicity. For detailed policy analysis in which sustainability is the objective, other methods are needed.
Download or read book Sustainability Indicators written by Tomás Hák and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2012-09-26 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While the concept of sustainability has been widely embraced, it has been only vaguely defined and is exceedingly difficult to measure. Sustainability indicators are critical to making the broad concept of sustainability operational by providing specific measures by which decision makers and the public can judge progress. Sustainability Indicators defines the present state of the art in indicator development. It presents a comprehensive assessment of the science behind various indicators, while placing special emphasis on their use as communications tools. The contributors draw on their experience as academics and practitioners to describe the conceptual challenges to measuring something as complex as sustainability at local, regional, national, and global scales. The book also reviews existing indicators to assess how they could be better employed, considering which indicators are overused and which have been underutilized. Sustainability Indicators will help planners and policy makers find indicators that are ready for application and relevant to their needs, and will help researchers identify the unresolved issues where progress is most urgently needed. All readers will find advice as to the most effective ways to use indicators to support decision making.
Download or read book Cents and Sustainability written by Michael H. Smith and published by Earthscan. This book was released on 2010 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cents and Sustainability is a clear-sighted response to the 1987 call by Dr Gro Brundtland in Our Common Future to achieve a new era of economic growth that is 'forceful and at the same time socially and environmentally sustainable'. The Brundtland Report argued that not only was it achievable, but that it was an urgent imperative in order to achieve a transition to sustainable development while significantly reducing poverty and driving 'clean and green' investment. With some still arguing for significantly slowing economic growth in order to reduce pressures on the environment, this new book.
Download or read book OECD Environmental Outlook written by OECD and published by OECD Publishing. This book was released on 2001-04-05 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The OECD Environmental Outlook provides economy-based projections of environmental pressures and changes in the state of the environment to 2020.
Download or read book Measuring Sustainable Development Integrated Economic Environmental and Social Frameworks written by OECD and published by OECD Publishing. This book was released on 2004-07-07 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The papers in this conference proceedings address the various conceptual, measurement and statistical policy issues that arise when applying accounting frameworks to the concept of sustainable development.
Download or read book Measuring Sustainability and CSR From Reporting to Decision Making written by Slobodan Kacanski and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-03-28 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book discusses reliability and other related issues, such as reporting and decision-making, pertinent to sustainability and corporate responsibility reporting practices. Investors, governments, and NGOs expect businesses to report their environmental and social performance. This information is used to legislate, regulate industries, and guide the investment of billions of dollars through pensions and mutual funds. But can we trust these measurements? In order to answer this question, the editors and contributors, all academic thought leaders from a variety of fields, offer a set of reflections on problems that various stakeholders might be exposed to. These problems are mainly due to a lack of standardized reporting practices and guidelines, and inconsistencies in measurements used for the valuation of corporate sustainability performance indicators. This book is of great interest to students, scholars, and stakeholders to help comprehend the importance of accounting on sustainability practices for decision-making and measures therein, but also the reliability risks involved in these measurements. Thus, it moves away from simply pushing for more sustainability reporting towards a more critical discussion of measurement issues and potential consequences of the aforementioned problems to different fields such as finance, marketing, or strategy.
Download or read book Measuring Progress Towards Sustainability written by Subhas K. Sikdar and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-11-21 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a state of the art treatise on what has been done so far on measuring sustainability for decision making. Contributions will appeal to engineers and scientists engaged in technology development, assessment, and verification. Researchers working on engineering sustainability are likely to get ideas for further research in quantifying sustainability for industrial systems. Concepts described can be applied across all scales, from process technology to global sustainability; and challenges and limitations are also addressed. Readers will discover important insights about simulation-based approaches to process design and quantitative measurement techniques of sustainability for business and technology systems. Most of the examples and case studies are from chemical enterprises but the methodologies presented could be applicable to any system for which quantitative data for indicators are available, and the choice of the set of indicators of sustainability are comprehensive.
Download or read book Towards Sustainable Development written by Philipp Schepelmann and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Economic performance of a country is generally being measured through GDP (Gross Domestic Product), a variable that has also become the de facto universal metric for "standards of living". However, GDP does not properly account for social and environmental costs and benefits. It is also difficult to achieve sustainable decision-making aiming at sustainable progress and well-being if welfare is being considered from a purely financial point of view. The study highlights the benefits and some of the shortcomings of GDP. It serves as a helpful and practicable instrument for monetary and fiscal policies. The real problem presumably is that GDP growth is too often confused with (sustainable) welfare growth in people's minds. While there certainly is a correlation between the two, this study shows that this is a highly conditional correlation, void of substantial causality for GDP levels observable in the European Union. In order to be able to assess people's well-being and general sustainable development in the sense of sustainability, an alternative instrument going beyond GDP is necessary. Using so called SWOT analyses, several alternative progress indicators have been assessed in the context of this study. On the one hand it was analysed how far ecological and social factors can be integrated in the GDP measurements. Thereby difficulties arose then trying to monetise these factors. As a further possibility indicators were analysed which are to replace GDP as a whole. The category supplementing GDP seems to be the most realistic and acceptable option for going beyond GDP. Within this approach, GDP is being complemented with additional environmental and/or social information. In order to make this kind of solution feasible the study claims the establishment of an overarching and transparent indicator system for improving economic decision-making in support of sustainable development.
Download or read book Blueprint 3 written by David William Pearce and published by Earthscan. This book was released on 1993 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First Published in 1994. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Download or read book Blueprint 3 written by David Pearce and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-04-08 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Blueprint 3 is the direct sequel to the ground-breaking Blueprint for a Green Economy. Taking the argument much further, David Pearce and his colleagues show how progress towards sustainability in the UK can be measured. They set out the conditions for sustainable development and the measures of economic progress these imply, before looking in detail at all the main areas of economic activity to which the measures are applicable. The result is a wide-ranging and cogent critique of existing policies which also offers new options - options which will require far-reaching reform of this country's existing political and institutional structure. Blueprint 3 will be a touchstone for future discussions of all the major policy areas.
Download or read book Frameworks to Measure Sustainable Development An OECD Expert Workshop written by OECD and published by OECD Publishing. This book was released on 2000-02-11 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume brings together a number of approaches to measuring sustainable development pursued in academia, national administrations and international organisations, as presented at an expert workshop held at the OECD headquarters in September 1999.
Download or read book Indicators to Measure the Decoupling of Environmental Pressure from Economic Growth written by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Staff and published by . This book was released on 2002-01 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Sustainability Indicators written by Simon Bell and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-05-04 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Praise for the first edition: 'This book should be of interest to anyone interested in sustainable development, and especially sustainability indicators. Bell and Morse easily succeed in exposing the fundamental paradoxes of these concepts and, more importantly, they offer us a way forward. Readers ... will find their practical recommendations for those attempting to do sustainability analysis in the field most welcome, which is also the book's greatest strength.' Local Environment: The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability 'This book makes a valuable contribution to the theory and practice of using indicators for sustainability. It introduces systems ideas and a range of tools and techniques that have the potential to broaden and deepen our understanding of a whole range of complex situations. Well worth a closer look.' Christine Blackmore, Open University 'This is a book that explores new ways of thinking about how to measure sustainability... It offers stimulating food for thought for environmental educators and researchers.' Environmental Education Research 'This book tells me, as an SI 'practitioner', where I have been and why, and more importantly how I should be thinking in order to effectively present to and empower the local community in the years ahead.' David Ellis, Principal Pollution Monitoring Officer, Norwich City Council 'A practical guide to the development of sustainability indicators which offers a systemic and participative way to use them at local scale. Our preliminary results are highly positive and the approach is applicable in many contexts.' Elisabeth Coudert, Programme Officer Prospective and Regional Development, Blue Plan The groundbreaking first edition of Sustainability Indicators reviewed the development and value of sustainability indicators and discussed the advantage of taking a holistic and qualitative approach rather than focusing on strictly quantitative measures. In the new edition the authors bring the literature up to date and show that the basic requirement for a systemic approach is now well grounded in the evidence. They examine the origins and development of Systemic Sustainability Analysis (SSA) as a theoretical approach to sustainability which has been developed in practice in a number of countries on an array of projects since the first edition. They look at how SSA has evolved into the practical approaches of Systemic Prospective Sustainability Analysis (SPSA) and IMAGINE, and, in particular, how a wide range of participatory methodologies have been adopted over the years. They also provide an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of projects that undertake work in the general field of sustainable development.
Download or read book Measuring Sustainability written by Simon Bell and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-06-17 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ' Measuring the sustainability of development is crucial to achieving it, and is one of the most actively studied issues in the area. To date, most studies of measurements or indicators have been largely theoretical. However, this book, a follow-on to Bell and Morse's highly influential Sustainability Indicators (1999), presents valuable practical advice on how to develop measurements that will work in real-life development contexts. It describes and analyses how to derive, validate and apply indicators in the course of an actual development project - in this case the Mediterranean Action Plan in Malta. The authors explain the trade-offs and constraints involved and how it is possible to combine the open-ended and flexible perspectives of sustainability with the more linear processes and fixed targets of specific projects through the use of pragmatic and reflective methodologies.
Download or read book Methods in Sustainability Science written by Jingzheng Ren and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2021-08-05 with total page 446 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Methods in Sustainability Science: Assessment, Prioritization, Improvement, Design and Optimization presents cutting edge, detailed methodologies needed to create sustainable growth in any field or industry, including life cycle assessments, building design, and energy systems. The book utilized a systematic structured approach to each of the methodologies described in an interdisciplinary way to ensure the methodologies are applicable in the real world, including case studies to demonstrate the methods. The chapters are written by a global team of authors in a variety of sustainability related fields. Methods in Sustainability Science: Assessment, Prioritization, Improvement, Design and Optimization will provide academics, researchers and practitioners in sustainability, especially environmental science and environmental engineering, with the most recent methodologies needed to maintain a sustainable future. It is also a necessary read for postgraduates in sustainability, as well as academics and researchers in energy and chemical engineering who need to ensure their industrial methodologies are sustainable. Provides a comprehensive overview of the most recent methodologies in sustainability assessment, prioritization, improvement, design and optimization Sections are organized in a systematic and logical way to clearly present the most recent methodologies for sustainability and the chapters utilize an interdisciplinary approach that covers all considerations of sustainability Includes detailed case studies demonstrating the efficacies of the described methods
Download or read book Decoupling 2 written by Ernst Ulrich Weizsäcker and published by UN. This book was released on 2014 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report explores technological possibilities and opportunities for developing and developed countries to accelerate decoupling and reap environmental and economic benefits of increased resource productivity. It examines policy options successful in helping different countries improve resource productivity in various sectors of their economy, avoiding negative impacts on the environment. It does not seem possible for a global economy based on the current unsustainable patterns of resource use to continue into the future. Economic consequences of these patterns are already apparent in increases in resource prices, increased price volatility and disruption of environmental systems. The environment impacts are also leading to potentially irreversible changes to the world's ecosystems, often with direct effects on people and the economy - for example: damage to health, water shortages, loss of fish stocks or increased storm damage. This report shows that much of the policy design 'know-how' needed to achieve decoupling is present in terms of legislation, incentive systems, and institutional reform. Many countries have tried these out with tangible results, encouraging others to study and where appropriate replicate and scale up such practices and successes
