EC to Launch New Environmental Index
September 9, 2009 // Published as a news service by IHS
As a part of its efforts to shift towards a low-carbon, resource-efficient economy, the European Commission (EC) announced plans to present a pilot version of a comprehensive environmental index in 2010.
In a communication released on Sept. 8, the EC proposed actions aimed at improving the measurement of a nation's progress by complementing the current and best known measure of economic activity - gross domestic product (GDP) - with a new, environmental progress measure.
As a result, the European Statistical System will implement environmental accounting as a standard in macro-economic statistics starting in 2010.
Complementing the GDP Measure
The EC's communication presented ways to complement GDP in order to direct European Union (EU) policies towards 'green' growth, sustainable development and social inclusion.
The communication outlined five actions that represent practical steps to go beyond sole use of the GDP measure:
- A pilot of an environmental index will be proposed in 2010 that will assess progress in the main fields of environmental policy and protection. The index will cover areas such as greenhouse gas emissions, loss of natural landscapes, air pollution, water use and waste management.
- The EC will step up efforts to produce environmental and social data more rapidly. At present, such data is often published after two to three years while key economic figures are released with only a few weeks' delay. The EC's aim is to develop near real-time information for decision-making.
- More accurate reporting on distribution and inequalities, which will allow a better definition of policies on social and economic cohesion.
- The EC will develop a European Sustainable Development Scoreboard in order to allow identification of environmental trends and a benchmarking of best practices. This scoreboard will be based on the existing set of Sustainable Development Indicators.
- The EC is working to complement GDP and National Accounts - which present production, income and expenditure in the economy - with environmental and social accounts.
EC Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas expressed hope that these actions would lead to an index of environmental sustainability being published in parallel with GDP figures.
"To meet the challenges of the 21st century we need more integrated and transparent policies. To design these policies we need to better assess where we are now, where we want to go and how we can get there," said Dimas. "To change the world we need to change the way that we understand the world and to do this we need to go beyond GDP."
Background
Gross domestic product is the best known macro-economic measure of the performance of a nation's market economy. GDP is used in economic forecasting and allows comparisons of countries and of developments over time. It is clear, established and conceptually well-defined.
Although GDP was not intended to be a measure of well-being, it has come to be regarded as a proxy indicator for overall societal development and progress in general. GDP does not, however, pick up on issues that are vitally important to the quality of human lives, such as a clean environment, social cohesion or even how happy people are.
Therefore, the EC maintains that GDP is not a sufficient guide for modern policy-making that needs to cover current social and environmental objectives and help steer EU economies.
The actions in the Sept. 8 communication represent the practical follow-up to the "Beyond GDP" conference that the EC held in November 2007.
Further Information
For more information, see visual news release Beyond the GDP and the action plan GDP and beyond: measuring progress in a changing world.
Source: European Commission (EC).