review paper
How to measure the
Sustainable
Development Goals
in Central Europe?
Lucas Porsch, Terri Kafyeke, Jiayi Yuan
NETGREEN Policy Brief No. 2 / 4 August 2015
Deliverable D4.2
AUTHOR(S)
Mr Lucas Porsch, Ecologic Institute
Ms Terri Kafyeke, Ecologic Institute
Ms Jiayi Yuan, Ecologic Institute
With thanks to:
Chris Hopkins, Green Economy Coalition
Project coordination and editing provided by Ecologic Institute.
Manuscript completed in August 2015.
This document is available on the Internet at: http://netgreen-project.eu/deliverables
Document title NETGREEN Policy Brief No.2
Work Package
Document Type
Date 4 August 2015
Document Status
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT & DISCLAIMER
The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union
FP7 ENV.2013.6.5: progress towards the Green Economy - under the grant agreement n°
603877.
Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission
is responsible for the use which might be made of the following information. The views
expressed in this publication are the sole responsibility of the author and do not
necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission.
Reproduction and translation for non-commercial purposes are authorized, provided
the source is acknowledged and the publisher is given prior notice and sent a copy.
3 ::
1 :: Executive summary
The international community is currently celebrating the outcomes of the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and simultaneously preparing to pursue
the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The new set of goals may be
universal, but different countries will have different perceptions, priorities and
strategies to attain and implement them by 2030. Consequently, different
states will require different sets of indicators to monitor their progress in the
next fifteen years.
The SDGs are more elaborate than their predecessors, with 17 goals and 169
targets. This exhaustive set of objectives was designed to build upon the work
done in the context of the MDGs while being more tailored to the different
realities of different countries and putting greater emphasis on environmental
matters. The Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) is still in the
process of preparing a list of global and national indicators to monitor progress
towards the SDGs.It is expected to be signed off at the 47 th
UNSC annual
conference in NY in March 2016. There should be around 100 Global
Monitoring indicators, but they cannot be relevant for all countries and all
policy problems.
Indicators are useful tools to measure progress towards a policy objective, but
they come with inherent challenges. Policy-makers and those who advise them
need to select the right indicators from a seemingly infinite list of options,
combine them with the right complementary indicators and interpret them
correctly. Failing to do so may lead to a distorted picture of reality. There is no
“one size fits all” solution to this: each policy context calls for its own set of
indicators that reflect its socio-economic context and political priorities.
The Measuring Progress tool was designed to help policy-makers (and those
wishing to influence them) construct their set of green economy indicators. The
NETGREEN project team has not only built an inventory of green economy
indicators, but embedded this information in a unique interactive structure that
enables the users to easily identify indicators, combine them and interpret
them correctly. The online tool is available on Measuring-Progress.eu
During the remaining project months, the NETGREEN team aims to identify
research gaps in the green economy indicator field, in addition to testing the
tool with target users. Measuring Progress will grow and evolve based on user
feedback and indicator needs, which tend to change rapidly in the policy world.
2 :: Introduction
At last, the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have
reached their target date. The initiative has led to impressive results 1
during its
fifteen years of implementation, and it is currently being hailed as the most
successful anti-poverty movement in history. Meanwhile, the international
community is preparing to redirect this impulse towards the next challenge: the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
While all nations are concerned by this new set of targets, it would be a mistake
to ignore the enormous differences that still exist between countries. This
heterogeneity leads to extremely different perceptions of the goals and of their
relative importance within the set. This, in turn, affects which indicators would
be most appropriate to measure a country’s progress towards the goals. Each
country will have to focus on a few indicators for communication purposes. In
this policy brief, we argue that the Measuring Progress tool can facilitate the
indicator selection process that countries must go through in order to monitor
their progress towards the SDGs.
In Section 3, some background information on the SDGs and their indicators is
provided. Section 4 follows with a brief discussion on the use of indicators to
monitor progress and associated difficulties. Finally, Section 5 will present
Measuring-Progress.eu, an interactive online tool aiming to facilitate indicator
selection. This section includes a case study walking the user through the tool.
The policy brief is based on insights from the NETGREEN research project 2
as
well as an expert workshop on the SDGs and indicators.
1 Some key results can be viewed here:
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/2015_MDG_Report/pdf/MDG%202015%20PR%20Key%20F acts%20Global.pdf
2 The project is described in subsection 5.1.
5 ::
3 :: The UN Sustainable Development
Goals – an overview
3.1 History, background and objective
As the Millennium Development Goals have reached their 2015 target date, the
United Nations initiated a new opportunity to enhance the global solidarity
against poverty and partnership for sustainable development. From its
Campaign in 2002 to the present stage of acceleration, the MDGs have
galvanized international endeavor towards issues ranging from extreme hunger
to environmental sustainability. To carry on the momentum generated and
speed up the progress towards the goals and the targets, a post-2015 agenda,
encapsulated in the UN Sustainable Development Goals, was proposed and
offered to the international community as an opportunity to strengthen the
global partnership for development.
In addition to inheriting the global partnership established by MDG Goal 8 3
, the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are also charged to tackle aspects where
the MDGs were shorthanded. While MDGs target the world’s poorest and the
vulnerable, the SDGs extend the target horizontally and vertically to citizens of
developing and developed countries, of today and tomorrow. Compared to the
MDGs, the new proposal carries the definition of equity of mankind onto the
next level that ensures sustainable development from all social, economic and
environmental aspects. SDGs also put forward an agenda more fitted for
concrete actions. Despite its unprecedented, spearheading framework, the MDG
8 has weaknesses calling for a new proposal that will fill in the gaps between
the Goals and their implementations. With more elaborated measurement
strategies and a universally applicable guideline, the SDGs point out a clear
path for all Member States for immediate and far-reaching actions.
The MDGs have set out the backdrop for a stage of international commitment
to sustainable development. The renewed global partnership guided by the
SDGs will continue to nurture positive globalization, integrate the original
initiatives and targets, as well as address both the persistent and emerging
challenges of the evolving world.
3.2 Overview of the main goals
Mandated by the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) outcome
document, The future we want (2012), the SDGs engage the UN and its partners
in a continuing round of commitment with the new target year 2030. Poverty
3 The 8
th Goal in the Millennium Development Goals is to develop a global partnership for
development. An elaboration on the MDG 8 and the rest of the Goals can be found at http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/global.shtml.
eradication, changing unsustainable and promoting sustainable patterns of
consumption and production and protecting and managing the natural resource
base of economic and social development are the overarching objectives of this
renewed global partnership. The SDGs will be accompanied by a robust system
of implementation, larger mobility in access to material as well as intellectual
resources, and targets evaluated with indicators of measurable outcomes.
The SDGs lay out 17 goals with 169 targets built upon the MDGs, aiming at the
ultimate aspiration of global sustainable development. The global vision
delivered with these goals takes different nation’s developmental realities into
consideration and provides a universal guideline that is applicable to all nations
yet tailored to their specific stage of development. Following the principle of
common but differentiated responsibilities, the Goals and the Targets assign
accountability to all countries and leave no-one out of the international
enabling environment that the SDGs endeavor to create. With a more detailed
and ambitious context, the SDGs range from poverty eradication to revitalizing
the global partnership required for the future vision of development. A full
elaboration on the Goals and the Targets can be found on the UN Department
of Economic and Social Affair’s website for Sustainable Development. 4
Table 1. Sustainable Development Goals
Goal 1 End poverty in all its forms everywhere
Goal 2 End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote
sustainable agriculture
Goal 3 Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
Goal 4 Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong
learning opportunities for all
Goal 5 Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
Goal 6 Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation
for all
Goal 7 Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy
for all
Goal 8 Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and
productive employment and decent work for all
Goal 9 Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable
industrialization and foster innovation
Goal 10 Reduce inequality within and among countries
Goal 11 Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and
sustainable
Goal 12 Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
4 United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs, Sustainable Development
Knowledge Platform. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/focussdgs.html. 26/05/2015.
7 ::
Goal 13 Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts*
Goal 14 Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources
for sustainable development
Goal 15 Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems,
sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and
reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
Goal 16 Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development,
provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and
inclusive institutions at all levels
Goal 17 Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global
partnership for sustainable development
3.3 The SDG indicators
With the 17 Sustainable Development Goals ahead, the Open Working Group on
the SDGs (OWG) and Member States are on a tight agenda to make their first
step towards meeting the target. It is clear that from the experience of MDGs,
indicators and reliable data collection are important monitoring tools to keep
all Member States headed in the right direction. From now through September,
while they review the Goals and Targets before the official adoption, Members
States will assemble a monitoring mechanism that is going to ensure a global
partnership and shared responsibility among all nations throughout the 15
years of SDG implementation.
The integrated indicator framework for the SDGs, despite not yet being in its
refined state, has been agreed upon by Member States to lay out a blueprint
where different levels of monitoring will complement each other. This
framework will be headed by national level indicators, and complemented by
indicators on global, regional, and thematic levels. 5
In the most recent indicator
report by Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), a set of 100
Global Monitoring Indicators (GMI) are suggested—each Goal is accompanied
with 2 to 14 GMIs as well as a separate list of recommended Complementary
National Indicators (or National Monitoring Indicators, NGI). The GMIs align with
and are categorized by their corresponding SDGs.
These globally harmonized indicators set up the guideline for review at the
High Level Political Forum and are generally applicable to every country. While
the GMIs are identical for all nations, national monitoring varies depending on
each nation’s reality. Lists of National Monitoring Indicators are recommended
in the last report, and it is then an individual nation’s decision to select the
indicators most pertinent to its needs. The four levels of monitoring together
5,4 SDSN. (2015). Indicators and a Monitering Framework for the Sustainable Development Goals. Launching a data revolution for the SDGs.
For a complete description of the four levels of monitoring, please go to http://unsdsn.org/resources/publications/indicators/.
cover all three dimensions of economic development, social inclusion and
environmental sustainability as laid out in the SDGs. The GMIs and the
suggested NMIs are composed to inspire and provide principles for further
brainstorming of implantation measures that caters better to each nation and
region’s developmental stage.
A list of indicators from Goal 12 of SDGs is provided beneath for reference. A
complete list of the 100 GMIs and complementary NGIs can be found in SDSN
2015. 4
Indicators for Goal 12 are selected to be included as samples because
they are the most relevant to the demonstration given in Chapter 3 on how to
use measuring-progress.eu.
Table 2. Suggested SDG Indicators Arranged by Goals. Goal 12: Ensure sustainable
consumption and production patterns
Potential and Indicative Global Indicator
Potential lead
agency or agencies
Other goals
indicator applies to
Disclosure of Natural Resource Rights Holdings EITI, UNCTAD, UN Global Compact
15, 16, 17
Global Food Loss Index [or other indicator to be developed to track the share of food lost or wasted in the value chain after harvest]
FAO 2, 11
Consumption of ozone-depleting substances (MDG Indicator)
UNEP Ozone Secretariat
9
Aerosol optical depth (AOD) UNEP 9, 11, 13
[Share of companies valued at more than [$1 billion] that publish integrated monitoring] – to be developed
Global Compact, WBCSD, GRI, IIRC
8, 17
Complementary National Indicators: 12.1. [Strategic environmental and social impact assessments required] – to be developed 12.2. [Legislative branch oversight role regarding resource-based contracts and licenses]-to be developed 12.3. [Indicator on chemical pollution] – to be developed 12.4. CO2 intensity of the building sector and of new buildings (KgCO2/m2/year) 12.5. [Indicator on policies for sustainable tourism] – to be developed 12.6. [Indicator on sustainable public procurement processes] – to be developed
With such a large number of indicators, it is challenging to select the right
ones. Policy-makers, NGOs, journalists and other stakeholders wishing to use
indicators often do not have time to consider and weigh all the options.
Nonetheless, neglecting the importance of indicator selection would be a
considerable mistake.
9 ::
4 :: Measuring Sustainable Development
with Indicators
4.1 The importance of measurement
2015 marks the transition into a new set of goals, together laying an ambitious
and challenging path ahead. In realizing the Sustainable Development Goals,
the first step is to know where the world is today, and then where each step we
make from this point on is taking us to. This progression cannot be achieved
without choosing suitable measuring tools that give direct feedbacks.
Therefore, measurement plays a preliminary role in the kickoff stage in the
post-MDG agenda, a developmental role throughout the march towards the
next target date, and an analytical role at the commencing stage between the
current and future policies. 6
Following the UN Millennium Declaration in 2000, 60 relevant indicators 7
were
chosen and applied to track progress of the global commitment to the
Declaration. During the 15 years of implementing MDGs, progress was
measured and published annually by the Secretary-General to the General-
Assembly. Because of the monitoring function measurements served, this
process enabled the UN to spot the need of 4 additional targets in 2005 to
supplement the Goals.
Measurements have successfully helped put the vision of MDGs into practice,
identify areas of weaknesses, and propose a renewed agenda for the post-2015
world. In the next challenge we face, measurements and indicators will
continue to facilitate innovations in the SDGs to have their intended impact.
6 UNEP. (2014). Using Indicators for Green Economy Policymaking. In the guideline provided
by the UN in its Green Economy paper, the use of indicators are described in details in all stages of an integrated policymaking process, namely the issue identification and agenda setting, policy formulation and assessment, decision-making, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation stage.
7 A list of MDG indicators can be found here
http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Host.aspx?Content=Indicators/OfficialList.htm
4.2 The challenges of measurement
Indicators are an essential tool for policy makers to identify and prioritize
issues to target initially, and compare and assess policy approaches in later
stages. However, they are associated with unavoidable challenges which
complicate the task of selecting, combining and interpreting them. This is
further exacerbated by the fact that, unfortunately, there is no “one size fits all”
solution: each specific policy issue or challenge requires its own set of
indicators in order to lead to meaningful conclusion.
4.2.1 Selecting the right indicator
The agony of choice is a common problem in the indicator world; policy makers
are faced with a seemingly infinite list of indicators. The NETGREEN project
consortium identified over 2000 indicators relevant to the green economy 8
.
Even within a specific theme, there are plenty of indicators which present
differences in their scopes, purposes, sources, etc. Knowing which ones to use
for a particular policy issue is therefore a delicate task.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation Development (OECD) suggested
three criteria that make “a good indicator” in its 2011 report on progress
monitoring. Policy relevance, analytical soundness, and measurability together
describe the basic principles of assessing the quantitative and qualitative
indicators. Policy makers can thus validate their choice of indicators that abide
by this standard and dismiss those that do not. 9
Although this is a useful guideline, it should be noted that the performance of
an indicator in these three criteria will significantly vary from one country to
another. For example, an indicator may be policy relevant in Germany but not in
China. Similarly, an indicator might be easily measurable in France but not in
Romania due to missing data. It is therefore impossible to identify an indicator
that is “universally good”.
8 More details in section 5.1
9
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (OECD). (2011). Towards
Green Growth: Monitoring Progress. Paris: OECD.
11 ::
4.2.2 Relationships of indicators
Many issues and targets from the SDGs are interconnected. A specific
environmental problem, for example, can have an influence on social and
economic dimensions in addition to the environmental one. Therefore, it is
necessary to examine the causal relationship between problems before
implementing policies in order to most efficiently orchestra the entire system
rather than filling in one of the holes. Indicators, correspondingly, are also in
direct or indirect, positive or negative relationship with one another. By sorting
out the causes and impacts and matching them to their indicators, policy
makers can achieve a better understanding of what is going on and what kind
of interference needs to take place as they identify and prioritize issues. The
UNEP guideline on Using Indicators for Green Economy Policymaking provides a
step-by-step instruction on mapping the related key indicators in the system of
interest. 10
4.2.3 Risk of misinterpretation
A misinterpreted indicator can be worse than not picking the right indicator.
Before drawing conclusions from data, caution should be taken to understand
what the numbers are pointing to. An example is given in OECD’s 2011 report
on Green Growth to distinguish the difference between energy productivity and
the efficiency in the use of energy of a country, when using indicators to assess
progress towards green growth. 11
In addition, the same report also points out
that an indicator does not stand by itself— it is to be read in connection with
other indicators and be complemented with additional information. Taken out
of context, an indicator is rendered valueless.
10 This procedure producing CLD, a Causal Loop Diagram, is described in the 2014 publication
“Using Indicators for Green Economy Policymaking.”
11 OECD (2011).
Choosing the right indicators
Anna Karnikova, Head of the Sustainable Development Unit of the
Office of the Government of the Czech Republic reported on the
Czech sustainable development strategy during a workshop
organized by NETGREEN on 8 May 2015 in Berlin.
She mentioned that one of the challenges of working with
indicators was knowing how to choose the right ones, that are
relevant and measurable. In addition, she said it would be useful
to know which indicators are best suited for which purpose
(policy-making, communicating to the public, etc.)
An indicator should not be avoided solely because it risks being misinterpreted.
In fact; several misinterpretations can be outshined by using a complementary
indicator.
4.2.4 The risk of an incomplete set of indicators
While indicators can assist with monitoring policy implementation, the
concluding image formed can be distorted with certain overlooked pieces of
information. The capability construct connections between causes and results
enables the initial decision making process on selecting indicators for
measurement. However, within the dense socio-economic network, the stage of
development of one branch is interconnected with varies others; an exclusive
view with missing pieces yield a misguided conclusion. For example, an
increasing annual net earning can be concluded as improved personal economic
situation, while the soaring cost of living, once included into the calculation,
will demonstrate the opposite. In the context of sustainable development, a
comprehensive set of indicators should concern all social, economic and
environmental aspects.
Contributors and counter-contributors and their related indicators might be
scattered in an unseen pathway anywhere around the policy of measurement
interest. Hence, an intuitive search that does not grant considerations to all
contributing factors gives rise to misleading data and inappropriate policy
analysis. To avoid this series of mistake, policy makers and organizations
should be advised with an inclusive list of indicators while measuring the
progress of development.
Indicators as a weapon
R. Andreas Kraemer, founder and former director of Ecologic
Institute, told highlighted that indicators are now often used as
weapons during a workshop organized by NETGREEN on 8 May
2015 in Berlin. Indicators are sometimes intentionally misused in
order to emphasize a point of view.
13 ::
Another challenge: financial resources
Beata Maciejewska, Commissioner of the Mayor of the City of
Sł upsk (Poland) for Sustainable Development and Green
Modernization of the City, told participants about her experience
in a rural municipality during a workshop organized by NETGREEN
on 8 May 2015 in Berlin.
Beata Maciejewska underlined financial means as the main barrier
preventing some cities from implementing a good green economy
strategy. She mentioned that her municipality has considered
applying for a Green Capital award as a means of being measured,
as candidate city are evaluated on various criteria.
5 :: Measuring-Progress.eu
5.1 The NETGREEN project
As a result of the issues mentioned above and in an effort to pursue the Beyond
GDP agenda 12
, six institutions from five different EU Member States 13
came
together for a European Commission-funded project: NETGREEN, NETwork for
GREEN economy indicators. The project began in September 2013 and the final
conference will take place in Brussels on September 30 th
2015.
The goal of NETGREEN is to accelerate progress towards the green economy by
facilitating the informed use of relevant indicators. In the context of the project,
the green economy is defined as an economy that operates without infringing
environmental limits 14
. Concretely, the project team aims to simplify the correct
use and interpretation of green economy indicators for stakeholders from
different countries and governance levels. This is done through the
development and promotion of an interactive online indicator database.
In order to create this database, the NETGREEN consortium first performed a
stocktacking exercise in order to identify the different pathways towards the
green economy and to list the most important indicator initiatives. To do so,
the NETGREEN team interviewed 55 experts in the field and carefully analyzed
92 green economy papers from reputable sources. Over 2000 green economy
indicators were considered for inclusion in the database.
The NETGREEN consortium then proceeded to narrow down the indicator list to
a more manageable number of “main indicators”. For these indicators, a
completed fact sheet was filled out. The NETGREEN fact sheet contains basic
information about the indicator (unit, geographical coverage, link tot data, etc.)
in addition to more practical information to help policy-makers use the
indicators: related indicators, misinterpretation risks, complementary
indicators, and so forth.
Finally, the NETGREEN team designed a user-friendly online tool featuring these
indicators and connecting them to keywords, green economy topics as well as
other indicators. The interactive tool is called Measuring Progress and is
available online at www.measuring-progress.eu.
12 Read more about the Beyond GDP initiative here:
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/beyond_gdp/index_en.html
13 Ecologic Institute (Germany; lead partner), New Economics Foundation (United Kingdom),
Fundacao da Faculdade de Ciencias et Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa (Portugal), LEI – Wageningen UR (Netherlands), Centre for European Policy Studies (Belgium), Green Economy Coalition (UK).
14 Deliverable 2.1
15 ::
5.2 Status quo and upcoming developments
To date, Measuring Progress contains 260 fully described indicators, as well as
200 additional indicators with essential information. The additional indicators
are related to the main ones either as related/similar indicators or as
complementary ones that help avoid common misinterpretation mistakes.
These indicators are linked to over 900 keywords through a Green Economy
topic tree containing 102 topics.
Measuring Progress provides three different search paths to reflect the different
backgrounds, experience levels and needs of its users.
The Keyword Search is quick, user-friendly, and simple. The user enters a
term of interest (e.g. "green jobs", "poverty", or "biodiversity") and
immediately receive suggestions of related indicators from the database.
The Topic Search function was designed to help the experienced user find indicators of interest within a specific green economy topic by
exploring a structured topic tree. It is also useful for users who do not
have a keyword in mind and want to learn more about the topics
included in the green economy field.
If you could not find the keyword you had in mind, or your topic of interest, it is also possible to search with a free text a search. Like any
search engine, the website will then look for the term of your choosing in
the whole information base on the website.
Measuring Progress is a one-stop shop for green economy indicators. On this
website, the user may not only find fact sheets for indicators, but the
interlinkages between indicators, green economy topics and keywords are
included. In addition, misinterpretation risks were identified for the fully
described indicators and for each of these, complementary indicators were
recommended. The user may enter the website with a policy issue and leave it
with a customized indicator selection that will allow him to measure this issue
in a logically sound way that fits the political and social context of his work.
In the final months of the project, the NETGREEN team organized thematic
workshops to promote dialogue between green economy stakeholders and
started conducting a gap analysis to identify topic areas lacking indicators. In
addition, a user group is currently testing the research database in order to
identify features with a potential for improvement.
“Measuring Progress can help cities
capitalize on work that has been done and
help them get to their objectives quickly.”
--Jan Bakkes, PBL Netherlands
Environmental Assessment Agency
5.3 Case Study: Measuring Progress towards the
SDGs
The following case study illustrates how Measuring Progress can be a useful
tool to help countries measure their progress towards the UN Sustainable
Development Goals.
A German consultant wants to assess her country’s progress towards the
Sustainable Development Goals for a short presentation abroad. Due to the
broad scope of the SDGs, she decides to focus on Goal 12: Ensure Sustainable
Consumption and Production Patterns. She consults the UN’s list of suggested
SDG indicators 15
. She notices that for target 12.6 (”encourage companies,
especially large and transnational companies, to adopt sustainable practices
and to integrate sustainability information into their reporting cycle”), the two
suggested indicators are in development. She wonders whether any indicators
already in existence could help her evaluate Germany’s performance in this
field.
The consultant enters www.measuring-progress.eu in her internet browser and
lands on the Measuring Progress homepage.
Measuring Progress homepage
15 http://unsdsn.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/FINAL-SDSN-Indicator-Report-Table-2.pdf
17 ::
The consultant sees that there are three search options: Keyword Search, Topic
Search and Fulltext Search. After reading the short descriptions for each option,
she decides to go for the keyword search as she has a specific keyword in mind
(“eco-industry”). She clicks on keyword search and is redirected to a search
engine. She starts typing “eco-indus” in the search bar and spots “eco-industrial
development” among the auto-complete suggestions. She clicks on that
keyword as it seems most relevant to the implication of SDG target 12.6.
The website generates a list of suggested indicators. For each indicator, she
sees a box containing the name and the source as well as a “Show details” link.
When she clicks on ”Show details”, the box slightly expands, showing
additional information such as the definition of the indicator, a direct link to
data, a link to related indicators, a link to possible interpretation pitfalls and a
bar chart showing how many green economy topics the indicator covers.
Keyword search results with one expanded indicator
She looks through the suggested results, expanding some of them to see more
basic information on the indicator. She finds the indicator Organisations and
sites with EMAS (Eco-Management and Audit Scheme) registration interesting
and clicks on “Go to full view”, which leads her to the full fact sheet of that
indicator.
She reads the detailed information about the indicator and decides it could be
useful to measure Germany’s progress towards target 12.6, indicator 76 [Share
of companies valued at more than [$1 billion] that publish integrated
monitoring], which is marked as “to be developed” by SDSN. The indicator looks
promising so she adds it to her indicator selection by clicking on “Select”.
It is the end of the working day so she saves her indicator selection under the
name “Target 12.6”.
On the next morning, she logs into her Measuring Progress account and finds
her indicator under “My collections”. She wants help determining whether that
indicator is appropriate for target 12.a so she prints out the fact sheet to
discuss it her co-workers over lunch.
The consultant goes back to the UN’s list of suggested indicators for the SDGs
and looks at target 12.4 on the management of chemicals and wastes. The
indicator Consumption of ozone-depleting substances is recommended. As she
found the indicator fact sheets very useful on Measuring Progress, she wonders
if the website could help her properly use this indicator.
She returns on www.measuring-progress.eu and chooses the Fulltext Search
option, as she knows exactly what she is looking for. She types in “ozone
depleting” and hits the Search button. Sure enough, Consumption of ozone-
depleting substances appears as the very first result. She clicks on the indicator
name and lands on the fact sheet of that indicator.
She spends the next few minutes reading about the indicator. She finds a direct
link to data, reads about the methodology of the indicator and takes notes of
misinterpretation pitfalls that she had not considered. She adds the indicator to
her new collection, which she saves under the name “Target 12.4”.
19 ::
With her co-worker, she will make a final indicator selection for her presentation
and retrieve the data through the direct links to data that are provided on the
website. She recommends the website to her co-workers who are preparing
presentations on the other SDGs.
6 :: Conclusion
The international community has received a detailed strategy to work towards a
healthier and fairer planet: the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Naturally,
these ambitious targets come with a set of challenges, particularly in regard to
monitoring. Different countries have profoundly different realities which will
affect their approach towards the SDGs and consequently their indicator needs.
Measuring-Progress.eu, an interactive online tool, aims to solve this problem by
allowing users to build their own indicator selections that will fit their unique
policy issues.
Measuring-Progress.eu was designed with a time-proof, flexible structure. Users
are free to suggest indicators, keywords and topics that they think would
complement the database. These will be integrated and connected to the
existing web of connections. Therefore, Measuring-Progress.eu will remain
relevant as the environmental policy landscape evolves with time.
7 :: References
European Commission - Environment. (n.d.). Retrieved July 14, 2015, from
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/beyond_gdp/index_en.html
Jeffery and Seaford. 2014. Report on definitions of the Green Economy and progress towards it:
Deliverable 2.1. WP2 Deliverable. NEF.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (OECD). 2011. Towards
Green Growth: Monitoring Progress. Paris: OECD.
Sustainable Development Solutions Network. 2015. Indicators and a Monitoring
Framework for Sustainable Development Goals: Launching a data revolution for the
SDGs. (n.d.). Retrieved July 14, 2015, from
http://unsdsn.org/resources/publications/indicators/
SDSN. 2015. Indicators and a Monitering Framework for the Sustainable Development
Goal: Launching a data revolution for the SDGs. Final Report. Sustainable
Development Solutions Network.
United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs, Sustainable Development
Knowledge Platform. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/focussdgs.html.
26/05/2015.
UNEP. 2014. Using Indicators for Green Economy Policymaking. Working paper.
“United Nations Millennium Development Goals.” Accessed July 14, 2015.
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/global.shtml
21 ::
8 :: Annex B: NETGREEN Thematic Policy
Workshop Agenda
Thematic Policy Workshops (TPW) are organized to ensure the work carried out
within NETGREEN is practical and of relevance for targeted stakeholders. These
workshops will allow for discussion of NETGREEN’s findings and the usability of
the indicator database and website to advance four potential policy fields. The
workshops are addressed at 20-30 invited experts from policy making, research
and civil society active in the respective policy field. International experts are
invited as appropriate to share best practices. The consultative nature of the
workshops will be underscored by facilitating cross-cutting discussions with
actors from several very distinct areas of work. Workshop inputs will be used to
refine the outputs of NETGREEN. At the same time, the workshops will serve to
present NETGREEN’s methodologies, progress and results to key stakeholders,
thus adding to the dissemination activities of the project.
The discussion of the workshop on 8 May was based on UN SDG. The objective
of this workshop was to showcase www.measuring-progress.eu as a repository
of green economy and sustainable development indicators, as well as to seek
perspectives from experts specialized in different European countries’ policies
that would help expand the website’s impact. UN Sustainable Development
Goals, particularly Goal 11, 12 and 15, are employed to demonstrate
NETGREEN’s relevance in the context of EU countries’ progress toward green
and sustainable economy.
23 ::
Agenda - 8 May 2015 – 9 am -14 pm
Location: Ecologic Institute , Pfalzburger Straße 43/44, 10717 Berlin, Germany
NETGREEN, short for ‘’Network for Green Economy Indicators’’, is an EU-funded project designed to facilitate the
adoption of policies that will advance progress towards a green economy. The key output of the project is an open
access, interactive website called www.measuring-progress.eu, which provides information on indicators that can
be used to measure progress towards a green economy.
The UN sustainable development goals (currently in discussion) are an important cross point for the future of
sustainable development and the workshop will focus on how these goals can be measured in practice and what
implications these goals could have in different countries of central Europe.
09.00– 09.30 Welcome Coffee and Reception
09.30-09.45 Introduction
Introduction to the objectives of the workshop by Lucas Porsch, NETGREEN project leader.
09.45-10.15 Introduction to Measuring-Progress.eu
Lucas Porsch, the project leader of NETGREEN, will provide a short introduction to the website
for green economy indicators (www.measuring-progress.eu) and will demonstrate how it can be
used to identify and interpret the right indicators. He will use the UN sustainable developments
goals as a practical example.
10.15-10.45 The UN sustainable development goals and the Czech sustainable development strategy
Anna Kárníková (Head of Sustainable Development Unit - Office of the Government of the Czech
Republic)
10.45-11.15 Progress towards green economy from the perspective of local authorities of the city of Slupsk
Beata Maciejewska (Commissioner of the Mayor of the City of Słupsk (Poland) for Sustainable
Development and Green Modernization of the City), followed by a plenary discussion.
11.15- 11.45 How to measure the success of the German energy transition (Energiewende)
R. Andreas Kraemer (Ecologic Institute), followed by a plenary discussion.
11.45-12.45 Panel discussion – What are the key measurements for meaningful UN sustainable
development goals in Central Europe?
R. Andreas Kraemer (Ecologic Institute) - chair
Klaus Jacob (FFU Berlin)
Dorothee Braun (German Council of Sustainable Development)
Jan Bakkes (PBL Netherlands environmental Assessment Agency)
12.45-13.00 Final conclusions of the chair and plenary discussion
13.00– 14.00 Networking lunch
9 :: Annex A: NETGREEN Thematic Policy
Workshop Participant List
Name Surname Organisation
1 Bakkes Jan
Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency
(PBL)
2 Behrens Arno Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)
3 Bourgin Cécile
Deutsche Gesellschaft für internationale
Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)
4 Braun Dorothee German Council for Sustainable Development
5 Brouwer Floor LEI Wageningen UR
6
Ferreira
Mattos Thaís Vanessa
University for Sustainable Development
Eberswalde
7 Fischer Marlene
8 Gay Agustina University of Potsdam
9 Jacob Klaus Freie Universität Berlin
10 Kafyeke Terri Ecologic Institute
11 Kárníková Anna Office of the Government of the Czech Republic
12 Koch Charlotte 4 Green Architecture Ltd.
13 Koch Juergen 4 Green Architecture Ltd.
14 Kraemer R. Andreas Ecologic Institute
15 Landgraf Richard Umweltbundesamt (UBA)
16 Maciejewska Beata City of Sł upsk, Poland
25 ::
17 Marten Franziska Germanwatch
18 Paulot Sylvia Ecologic Institute
19 Porsch Lucas Ecologic Insititute
20 Ramasamy Ashvin Ecologic Insititute
21 Rizos Vasileios Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)
22 Schmidt Stefanie Ecologic Institute
23 Schwegmann Claudia Open Knowledge Foundation
24 Sparks
Wilhelmina
Jewell On The Green Carpet (OTGC)
25 Šteg Jiř í Initiative for Equality
26 Tomei Veronica European Economic and Social Committee
27 Vedder Alois WWF Germany
28 Wilenkin Stacey NRG4SD
29 Woltjer Geert LEI Wageningen UR