On the 21st of this month, the European Environment Council proposed to develop new environmental and social indicators to replace the traditional model of using Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to measure a country's prosperity and well-being, and a trial version of these indicators will be published in 2010.
The EU's economic recovery plan, launched last year, uses GDP as the primary indicator of its effectiveness. However, promoting economic recovery will accelerate the depletion of natural resources. To address this dilemma, the EU plans to develop a new sustainable development strategy, with environmental policy focusing on the following five key areas: climate change and energy consumption, natural and biodiversity, air pollution and health impacts, water resources and pollution, and waste recycling and resource utilization.
On the 21st of this month, the European Union Environment Department proposed using the eco-efficient economy indicator to assess the performance of sustainable development strategies in various aspects. It also suggested that this eco-efficient economy indicator be used in conjunction with GDP to assess the economic development of member states, taking into account the performance of member states in both environmental and economic aspects. In the future, social aspects will also be included in the assessment. A trial version of this eco-efficient economy indicator will be published in 2010.
The Swedish environmental advisor to the United Nations has recommended to the European Union that eco-efficient economics should be a core development project for achieving the Lisbon Strategy, which aims to promote economic growth and employment. Eco-efficient economics would prioritize establishing a carbon emission payment system and regulations to encourage companies to reduce energy consumption. The EU and its member states should also support the development of green technologies and products.
To facilitate the exchange of policy perspectives among member states and stakeholders, the European Union will collaborate with member states to develop a Sustainable Development Scoreboard. This scoreboard will be based on the EU Sustainable Development Indicator and will include publicly available qualitative and quantitative information and environmental thresholds to provide timely information for policymaking and business assessments in response to the increasing scarcity of Earth's natural resources. A trial version of this Sustainable Development Scoreboard is scheduled for release in 2009.
Related information can also be found in the report "GDP and beyond Measuring progress in a changing world" published by the European Commission in August 2009, which can be downloaded from the following website:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2009:0433:FIN:EN:PDF
– Reference source: Industrial Sustainable Development Integration Information Network, 2009-11-23
