1. Environment Accounts and Statistics Division Division des comptes et de la statistique de l'environnement Report of the Working Group on Statistics for Sustainable Development Conference of European Statisticians 56 th Plenary Session June 10-12, 2008 Paris Robert Smith Statistics Canada

2. Environment Accounts and Statistics Division Division des comptes et de la statistique de l'environnement 2 Background to the WGSSD Origin –Decision by the CES at 2005 seminar on the measurement of sustainable development Mandate –Explore conceptually driven approaches to the measurement of sustainable development, in particular the capital approach –Identify commonalities among existing indicator sets –Propose a small set of indicators for international comparison coherent with conceptual approach and existing sets Functioning –WG meetings attended by some 48 countries and institutions –5 face-to-face meetings from April 2006 to March 2008 –Steering Committee provided governance and continuity between meetings

3. Environment Accounts and Statistics Division Division des comptes et de la statistique de l'environnement 3 Core concepts Sustainable development is about improving human well-being –Some wanted to emphasize well-being of future generations –Others argued that sustainable development requires attention to both current and future well-being Debate remains unresolved Sustainable development indicators must adhere to the principles of official statistics Sustainable development is, in the end, a global issue, but responsibility for achieving it rests mainly with nation states –Therefore, national indicator sets are essential

4. Environment Accounts and Statistics Division Division des comptes et de la statistique de l'environnement 4 Commonalities among existing indicator sets Analyzed sets from 22 countries and 2 international organisations –Number of indicators ranged from 187 to 12, with an average of 70 –27 indicators were considered “common”; that is, appeared in 10 or more sets Greenhouse gas emissions, educational attainment and GDP per capita were the most common –Only a few countries adopted an explicit conceptual framework –Most countries chose indicators that aligned with a national sustainable development policy strategy –Indicators were most often selected through broad stakeholder engagement –Statistical offices not always the responsible agency

5. Environment Accounts and Statistics Division Division des comptes et de la statistique de l'environnement 5 Capital approach No conceptual approach other than capital emerged Capital approach proved robust –Financial, produced, human, natural and social capital are all relevant to sustainable development –Some elements of capital better understood than others, but a sound overall framework –More relevant to the future-oriented view of sustainable development –In theory, possible to define a single indicator of change in national wealth that is sufficient to measure sustainable development –In practice, problems of valuation and the existence of “critical” forms of capital prevent this, so both physical and monetary indicators required –A set of 30 capital indicators sufficient to measure sustainable development; 15 stock indicators and 15 flow indicators

6. Environment Accounts and Statistics Division Division des comptes et de la statistique de l'environnement 6 Capital indicators Stock indicatorsFlow indicators Real per capita economic wealthReal per capita genuine economic savings Real per capita net foreign financial asset holdingsReal per capita investment in foreign financial assets Real per capita produced capitalReal per capita net investment in produced capital Real per capita human capitalReal per capita net investment in human capital Real per capita natural capitalReal per capita net depletion of natural capital Real per capita social capital (place holder)Real per capita net investment in social capital (place holder) Temperature deviations from normalsGreenhouse gas emissions Ground-level ozone and fine particulate concentrationsSmog-forming pollutant emissions Quality-adjusted water availabilityNutrient loadings to water bodies Fragmentation of natural habitatsConversion of natural habitats to other uses Percentage of the population with post-secondary educationEnrolment in post-secondary educational institutions Health-adjusted life expectancyChanges in age-specific mortality and morbidity (place holder) Membership in local associations and networks Change in membership in local associations and networks Trust and adherence to norms Flow indicators of trust/adherence to norms and collective action (place holder) Collective action

7. Environment Accounts and Statistics Division Division des comptes et de la statistique de l'environnement 7 Comparison of practice and theory More overlap between common policy-based indicators and capital indicators than expected Just five common policy-based indicators did not align easily with capital-based indicators –GDP per capita –Official development assistance –Organic farming –Freight transport by mode –Passenger transport by mode The aggregate monetary wealth indicators found in the capital approach are not found in policy-based sets There are nearly no “social” indicators among common policy-based indicators –Suggests that nations have very different ideas about how social variables figure in sustainable development

8. Environment Accounts and Statistics Division Division des comptes et de la statistique de l'environnement 8 Proposed small set of indicators Indicator domain Stock IndicatorsFlow Indicators Foundational well- being Health-adjusted life expectancyChanges in age-specific mortality and morbidity (place holder) Percentage of population with post-secondary education Enrolment in post-secondary education Temperature deviations from normalsGreenhouse gas emissions Ground-level ozone and fine particulate concentrationsSmog-forming pollutant emissions Quality-adjusted water availabilityNutrient loadings to water bodies Fragmentation of natural habitatsConversion of natural habitats to other uses Economic well- being Real per capita net foreign financial asset holdingsReal per capita investment in foreign financial assets Real per capita produced capitalReal per capita net investment in produced capital Real per capita human capitalReal per capita net investment in human capital Real per capita natural capitalReal per capita net depletion of natural capital Reserves of energy resourcesDepletion of energy resources Reserves of mineral resourcesDepletion of mineral resources Timber resource stocksDepletion of timber resources Marine resource stocksDepletion of marine resources

9. Environment Accounts and Statistics Division Division des comptes et de la statistique de l'environnement 9 Future work Despite the group’s good work, questions still remain on the capital approach 1.Measurement of total national wealth –Conceptual and methodological uncertainties 2.Physical indicators of capital, especially critical capital Are the proposed indicators the best available? 3.Social capital Concepts must be better defined before more definitive indicators can be proposed