Measuring Progress Sustainable Europe
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2001 EDITION Measuring progress towards a more sustainable Europe Proposed indicators for PANORAMA OF THE EUROPEAN UNION PANORAMA sustainable development Data 1980–99 THEME 8 EUROPEAN Environment COMMISSION 8and energy A great deal of additional information on the European Union is available on the Internet. It can be accessed through the Europa server (http://europa.eu.int). Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2001 ISBN 92-894-1101-5 © European Communities, 2001 Printed in France PRINTED ON WHITE CHLORINE-FREE PAPER Foreword The term sustainable development was popularised in the 1987 Brundtland Report published by the World Commission on Environment and Development. The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Rio Conference) of 1992 set out to draw up strategies and measures to halt and reverse unsustainable degradation and to promote environmentally and socially sustainable practices. Amongst the texts signed at the conference were the Rio Declaration and Agenda 21 which set out the actions that need to be taken over the coming decades to achieve the objectives of sustainable development. Sustainable development objectives are becoming articulated in EU policy with particular progress on the integration of environmental issues into mainstream policies. However, there is still some way to go in achieving the full integration necessary for sustainable development. In the shorter term, the challenge of sustainable development is to understand and achieve the most appropriate balance between securing people's material aspirations, ensuring a cohesive and inclusive society and respecting environmental constraints. In the longer term, the challenge is to fully integrate economic, social and environmental objectives within the necessary institutional structures capable of delivering these objectives. This in turn requires the integration of decision making and the abolition of traditional divisions between policy areas. In order for sustainable development policies to be formulated and implemented in the EU, it is necessary that progress in moving to more sustainable development is measured. The measurement of sustainable development is therefore of critical importance. It is however, extremely difficult, because it requires a view on what is meant, in practice, by sustainable development; a view that, in the context of measurement at the international level, has to be shared by different countries. In other words, the international measurement of sustainable development requires cross-country agreement on the, at least core, issues that determine whether progress is being made towards sustainable development. There are also technical questions relating to the use and harmonisation of data and the definition of particular variables that need to be answered in putting forward a set of indicators that, collectively, measure progress towards sustainable development. The need for measurement becomes more important as new strategies for promoting sustainable development are advanced. A new spur to the measurement and reporting of sustainable development at the EU level comes with the proposals for a new long-term strategy for sustainable development to be presented by the European Commission at the Gothenburg Council. Monitoring and review will be an integral element of the Strategy. The indicator set reported here should make an important contribution to this task. Until now, no agreement has been reached at international level on one common indicator set for measuring sustainable development. The international community is making a concerted effort to agree and trial an appropriate information system for sustainable development, and to implement the collection and dissemination of specified data. The UN Commission on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) is leading this process supported by the EU Member States and the Commission. Eurostat has produced a set of sustainable development indicators (SDI) adapted to the situation in the EU, based on the recent UNCSD proposals for a sustainable development indicator core set. The results of this work are presented in this publication. This follows earlier work by Eurostat in collaboration with some Member States to test the first SDI list suggested by UNCSD in Agenda 21 and published in 1997. We hope that this report will make a positive contribution to the task of measuring sustainable development at an international level, serving as an international reference set, and helping to inform the indicator development process at UN and international level. Yves Franchet Director-Gerneral of the statistical Office of the European Communities Acknowledgements Within Eurostat Mr Mario Ronconi of the Environment Statistics Unit is the project manager, responsible for this publication. ECOTEC Research and Consulting Ltd. assisted Eurostat in the compilation work and the preparation of this publication. Desktop Publishing by World Systems (Europe) Limited. Eurostat acknowledges the helpful comment, and the assistance for specific indicators provided by other Directorates General of the European Commission. Eurostat would also like to thank the colleagues from Member States for their contributions on national experiences: Ingeborg Fiala (Environment Ministry, Austria), Anne Teller and Natacha Zuinen (Federal Government and Federal Bureau of Planning, respectively, Belgium), Thierry Lavoux and Cécile Dormoy (French Institute for Environmental Statistics, France), Ulla Rosenström (Finnish Environment Institute), Uwe Taeger and Frank Hönerbach (Federal Environment Ministry and Environment Agency respectively, Germany). The development of a definitive set of indicators of sustainable development is inevitably an on-going process. Comments and reactions of readers to the indicators, and in particular suggestions for further improvement, are welcome. Please forward any suggestions or requests for further information to: Mario Ronconi - Environment Unit, Eurostat, European Commission L-2920 Luxembourg E-mail: [email protected] Tel: +352-4301-35532 Fax: +352-4301-37316 or consult the Eurostat website at: www.europa.eu.int/comm/eurostat/ Contents INTRODUCTION . .1 Annex: Overview of the UNCSD Dimensions . .11 SOCIAL DIMENSION . .15 ENVIRONMENT DIMENSION . .63 ECONOMIC DIMENSION . .99 INSTITUTIONAL DIMENSION . .145 Annex: Member States Reports . .157 Measuring Progress Towards a More Sustainable Europe Introduction Measuring Progress Towards a More Sustainable Europe It is now widely recognised that improving the quality of life for current and future generations is not just about increasing material wealth, but also requires continuous improvements to be made in social cohesion and environmental protection and management. Progress towards sustainable development cannot be measured only in terms of GDP. The economy, society and the environment are all one, and assessing progress requires reference to a broader set of indicators. The development of this broader set of sustainable development indicators (SDI) is timely, given the increasing pressure to integrate economic, social and environmental policy goals within policy areas, at different sectoral and spatial levels. For example, strategies to better integrate policies in the transport sector have given rise to the new Transport and Environment Reporting Mechanism, whilst the implementation of the new round of Structural Fund Programmes has seen sustainability criteria added to the evaluation criteria for funding. The demand for more integrated statistical information is, in small part, met by the SDI work described below. Measuring progress towards a more sustainable Europe requires a data set that is capable of both measurement and comparative analysis. As such, the intention of this publication is not to provide an assessment of this progress but rather, it is envisaged that the indicator set described here should make a valuable contribution to this task. In the medium term, such indicators may be used to inform sustainable development policies and strategies. 1. The indicator selection process at United Nations' level and Eurostat's statistical contribution Methods for measuring progress towards sustainable development are still being developed. The learning process requires the co-ordinated efforts of international organisations, in consultation with member countries. Eurostat has co-operated with the United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), to support the indicator development work within the process of the United Nations Commission for Sustainable Development (UNCSD). Eurostat's contribution has focused on the statistical issues involved (data assessment, methodological and technical work). 1.1 The first Eurostat compilation of Sustainable Development Indicators In 1996 the UNCSD proposed a list of 134 indicators a), defined by reference to the principles and policy guidance provided by Agenda 21, to be tested in selected countries. Underpinning the definition of indicators was the driving force - pressure - state (DPS) model that has been adopted by Eurostat and the EEA since the 1990s. In 1997 Eurostat, as a contribution to the UN official international testing phase, produced a pilot study Indicators of Sustainable Development b), based on the UN list. In November 1998 Eurostat also hosted a meeting with the European countries which were testing the UN list of indicators, to review progress and