A goal oriented indicator framework to support integrated assessment of new policies for agri-environmental systems

The goal oriented framework (GOF) for indicators has been developed as part of a comprehensive research project developing computerised tools for integrated assessment of the effects of new policies or technologies on agricultural systems (SEAMLESS-IF). The ambition has therefore been to create an indicator framework where the environmental, economic and social dimensions of sustainable development can be related to each other in a consistent way. Integrated assessment tools rely on such frameworks to capture and visualise trade-offs (antagonisms or synergies) among indicators between and within the three dimensions of sustainable development. The specific aims of this paper are to (i) present the GOF (ii) present how the GOF can be used to select indicators within the integrated assessment framework SEAMLESS-IF and (iii) discuss the advantages and limitations with the proposed approach. We show that the GOF has several advantages. Its major rewards are its relative simplicity and the possibility to link indicators to policy goals of each dimension of sustainability and thereby facilitate the comparison of the impacts of the new policy on the different dimensions. Another important feature of the GOF is its multi-scale perspective, which will enable the comparison of effects of a new policy between scales. Yet, as typical for all indicator frameworks, the GOF has also biases either instigated by the issues the included models cover or by the stakeholders’ selection of indicators. However, due to the way the GOF and its indicators are technically implemented in SEAMLESS-IF, it can easily be extended and include new indicators to increase and update its policy relevance.     

Regional eco-efficiency indicators – a participatory approach

Eco-efficiency emerged in the 1990s as a measure of “the efficiency with which ecological resources are used to meet human needs.” Eco-efficiency indicators as tools for regional sustainability policy were demonstrated in a Life-Environment project, ECOREG, in the Finnish region of Kymenlaakso. A participatory approach was utilised to produce indicators that are relevant for regional decision-makers and that will actually be used. The approach established a system through which decision-makers are able to monitor changes using several economic-environmental ratio indicators, and at the same time obtain information on the social progress taking place in the region. In the future, there will be a need for an ongoing dialogue among the different actors in the region in order to ensure that the indicators are indeed used to promote sustainable development.     

重庆高新区可持续发展水平评价与对策研究

提出了建立重庆高新区可持续发展评价指标体系的6项基本原则，从经济高效、社会文明、环境舒适（ESE）3方面设计了包括3个高层指标、8个中层指标、45个单项指标的指标体系。采用特尔斐法、层次分析法和线性加权法，对评价指数进行了量化计算和整合，据此评价重庆高新区的可持续发展水平，并对照发展性质相似的苏州高新区、深圳高新区，指出重庆高新区在发展中存在的问题，并提出可持续发展的若干对策。     

国内外城市可持续发展指标体系比较

文章以英国2009年发表的可持续发展指标体系和美国可持续社区指标指南为例,比较了国内外城市可持续发展评估指标体系,列举了各指标体系的大类和分项,从指标体系的选择和评价方法的确定等方面综述了国内可持续发展指标体系,以期为制定和完善中国的城市可持续发展指标体系提供参考。     

可持续发展指标：发展中国家的决策过程和适用性整合

实现可持续发展已经成为了重要的全球性目标,这反映了公众以及决策者对环境问题日益增长的关注。虽然可持续发展指标为决策提供了坚实的基础,但许多国家特别是发展中国家并没有向可持续发展迈进。本文考查了在发展中国家测量可持续发展指标面临的挑战,这些指标在决策中的有效性和指标对决策过程的影响。特别地,本文将评估这些指标是否被整合到了决策进程中而且是否促进了可持续发展。环境数据的约束,缺乏相关机构的协调,发展中国家资源的缺乏都阻碍了可持续发展指标的测量。水、卫生条件的案例表明在政策和决策过程中整合可持续发展指标的无效性。既要有可持续发展的核心指标集以整合决策者关注环境问题,也要辅助以反映地方关注和文化多样性的地方性指标,这是至关重要的。报告应该包括对环境因素和健康产出相关的分析,也应该相应地转化为对经济的影响。     

中国可持续发展指标体系研究进展

分析了中国可持续发展指标体系的不同研究方法，基本框架，具体指标的构成和数量，不同层次的案例研究，及有关国际合作项目；提出了合作要 计算方法，指标合成有基础资料，统计口径等技术关键。     

Review of corporate environmental indicators

This paper reviews a series of environmental indicators developed in the last years that were found suitable to be applied at corporate level for the evaluation of production processes and products. The indicators reviewed in this paper were classified into four main groups: 1) Indicators of Energy and Material Flows; 2) Indicators with a Territorial Dimension; 3) Indicators of Life-Cycle Assessment; 4) Indicators of Environmental Risk Assessment. Integrative and single index indicators such as the ecological footprint or carbon footprint were found as the most appealing for enterprises, although there is a need to advance in the field to combine the simplicity required at corporate level for tracking and reporting environmental data, and the scientific rigor and transparency necessary to make the scores reliable. Hence, for each of the indicators revised it was stated what they do and do not measure so that misleading information was not used for decision making at corporate level.     

Environmental response indicators for the industrial and energy sector in Flanders

Environmental reporting with quantitative indicators is becoming popular worldwide. However, environmental response indicators, which describe the reaction of societal actors to environmental problems and to government policy, still remain under investigation. This paper describes the collection of potential response indicators for the industry and energy sectors in Flanders, the quality assessment, and the identification of a core set of suitable response indicators. The selected core set consists of four indicators: eco-efficiency (a mainstream indicator for decades), the presence of an environmental management system, the amount of environmental expenditures and the use of sustainable energy. This core set is applied to the Flemish situation in order to assess the environmental performance of the industry and energy sectors. The core set allows identification of areas where the industry and energy sectors are performing better than other sectors, as well as areas where additional efforts are needed.     

建立上海可持续发展指标体系的研究

在可持续发展理论研究中，提出建立多目标的指标体系是实施可持续发展战略的重要环节，阐述了建立上海可持续发展指标体系的５项基本原则是系统性、层次性、主要性、可比性、操作性。据此设计了包括４个领域６０个指标组成的指标体系框架。阐明了从原计划指标体系滚动式过渡到可持续发展指标体系；从第１０个五年计划开始，３个五年计划分３步建立并完善指标体系与国际接轨和建立综合评价指数来表征可持续发展状况等实施可持续发展指     

Development of eco-efficiency indicators for the Canadian food and beverage industry

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is developing eco-efficiency indicators (EEIs) in an effort to build a framework for a sustainable production system for the Canadian food and beverage industry (FBI). This paper presents the rationale and the framework of the project currently under development addressing the following environmental issues: energy use, emission of greenhouse gases, water use and wastewater generation, organic residues, and packaging residues. Proposed EEIs are intensity indicators and recycling ratios, and include environmental pressure modulators. They will be developed based on collected data and estimated impact levels, and reported by FBI sub-sector, geographical location, and establishment size. Objectives and methodologies are outlined. Problems on getting quality and reliable data on selected environmental issues are emphasized. The methodology will be published in 2005 and first results are due by 2008. Benchmarking and linkage to specific processing operations and management practices will help regulators and industries in promoting and implementing cleaner production initiatives and will lead to operational cost savings, product innovation, and enhanced competitiveness.     

中国土地可持续利用指标体系的理论与方法

制定土地资源可持续性指标体系是《21世纪议程》中对各国提出的科学技术优先研究领域 ,国土资源部已开始了该研究项目。论文就此对中国土地资源可持续利用指标体系的理论与方法从整体上进行了探讨。首先回顾了国内外土地可持续利用研究的进展 ,分析归纳了国外可持续发展指标体系研究状况及可借鉴之处 ;指出在土地可持续利用指标与评价的研究中 ,必须从3个方面开展深入探讨。第一是土地利用分区及制定区域性土地可持续利用指标体系 ;第二是研究制定主要土地利用系统可持续利用指标体系及其阈值 ;第三是研究制定典型区域(以县域为单位)土地可持续利用指标体系及其阈值。只有把3个方面的研究有机融合起来 ,互相反馈 ,互为依存 ,才能保证土地可持续利用指标体系的科学性、系统性和实用性。     

英国的地方可持续发展战略

对英国可持续发展进程，国家及地方的可持续发展指标体系，以及地方21世纪议程编制的内容及特点进行了分析。     

城市河流水生态考核指标体系的研究

基于沈阳市河流特点,研究建立了包括水生态考核指标和控制值的指标体系,其中包括水资源结构、水生态质量和重点受控要素方面的控制指标和内容。通过应用试验,验证了指标体系在水生态质量解析和监控中的作用和功效,为水生态建设和管理提供了新的技术支撑。     

PRIMA: a Dutch initiative for environmental improvement of retail assortments

Cleaner production (CP) working methods should facilitate the search for feasible CP options and contribute to their on-going implementation in a company. Over the past decade, numerous working methods have been developed in order to cater for specific segments of industry. This paper describes, compares and analyses the core components of six Dutch working methods to develop a framework for CP methodologies, to draft guidelines for the selection of an appropriate working method for a certain industry, and to identify areas which require additional methodology development. A division is proposed between four types of CP working methods: indicators, scan, pre-assessment and assessment. Each of these has its strengths and weaknesses, which calls for a careful selection of the working method, which in turn could be based on size of the company, material- and energy-intensity of the production, and complexity of the production processes. This comparative evaluation further proves that the working methods are still weak in stimulating the corporate transition process from ‘end-ofpipe’ to CP thinking and acting. It is tentatively concluded that an ‘assessment’ is superior in identifying comparatively radical environmental improvements (‘innovations’) as well as in fostering the integration of CP into the daily operation and management of a company. The use of simplified working methods in selected industries, is, however, justified given their ability to contribute to the implementation of relatively obvious CP options.     

Methodology for the development of a new Sustainable Infrastructure Rating System for Developing Countries (SIRSDEC)

The improvement of infrastructures in developing countries has become a priority for the most advanced economies, which have founded a broad range of international development organizations to undertake infrastructure projects worldwide. Infrastructure is the key driver that can accelerate the balance among the economic, social and environmental aspects forming the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) in these countries. Given the lack of appropriate tools to ensure the achievement of this goal, this paper describes the methodology conceived for the development of a Sustainable Infrastructure Rating System (SIRSDEC) aimed at promoting the design, construction and operation of sustainable infrastructure projects in these geographical areas. SIRSDEC is structured into a hierarchical decision-making tree consisting of three levels of elements (requirements, criteria and indicators) selected to assess infrastructure systems according to sustainability principles. The methodology on which SIRSDEC is based combines the action of two multi-criteria decision-making methods (MCDM) such as the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the Integrated Value Model for Sustainable Assessment (MIVES). AHP is proposed to weight the elements forming the decision-making tree after processing the opinions provided by a group of international experts regarding the importance of requirements, criteria and indicators, whilst MIVES is suggested to value infrastructure projects according to their contribution to the TBL. The article emphasizes the added value provided by the combination of AHP and MIVES in the design of an ad-hoc rating system aimed at fostering the implementation of sustainable infrastructure projects in developing countries.     

The benefits of a Brazilian agro-industrial symbiosis system and the strategies to make it happen

Alcohol fuel is generally presented as a sustainable fuel in comparison with other fossil fuel due to lower emissions during production and combustion steps as well as due to its (assumed) closed carbon cycle. However, assessing the Brazilian traditional alcohol production cycle, many social and environmental impacts may still be indicated: burning, pesticides, biodiversity, labor exploration, high water consumption, erosion and others. Based on the strategy of an agro-industrial networking and symbiosis, a project was designed to optimize the system by means of polygeneration and total integration of production steps. The case presented in this paper is the project for a social and ecological agro-industry model, named GERIPA (Geração de Energia Renovável Integrada à Produção de Alimentos), which produces renewable fuel, electricity and organic food. Besides the technical project, an economic evaluation is also presented, resulting into a five year pay back time. In addition, environmental and social aspects were evaluated by means the Emergy Synthesis methodology (Odum, 1996), which assesses the value of all inputs through an estimate of the environmental work directly and indirectly required for their production and sustainable supply. The emergy-based comparison of GERIPA system and a traditional system in Brazil indicates better performance of GERIPA, with an eMergy Sustainability Index of 1.26, much higher than for a traditional system, 0.22. The project is presently under discussion with investors and Government and, if approved, will be carried out in marginal and presently unused land. In addition to providing an environmentally friendly process for food and energy production, the project would generate new jobs opportunities for Brazilian rural workers presently unemployed.     

A new generation of designers: perspectives for education and training in the field of sustainable design. Experiences and projects at the Politecnico di Milano University

This paper is a contribution to the debate on the redefinition of needs and perspectives of university level education in the field of sustainable design. It discusses the role of design research in relation to the production of new educational forms, methods and tools for a new generation of designers (and designer educators) enabling them to more effectively confront the transition towards a sustainable society. The paper is based on two premises; Firstly: in today’s climate there is a need for a general redefinition of education, as a result of the influence of new technological opportunities and changed socio-cultural conditions. Secondly: the design activity itself needs to be redefined in order to positively and effectively contribute to the radical change required by the transition towards a sustainable society. Industrial designer, educators and other design practitioners are all searching for ways to enhance their environmental capabilities and to produce sustainable designs. The academic discipline of design education in Italy (at the higher educational level) has responded by broadening its scope to produce more ‘environmentally skilled’ designers sensitive to issues of sustainable production and consumption. The Interdepartmental Research Centre in Innovation for Environmental Sustainability (CIR.IS) of the Politecnico di Milano University has developed an innovative and highly flexible response to these new design education needs. A set of interrelated projects—co-ordinated by the author—is outlined in the following paragraphs. These projects are funded by the Italian Environmental Protection Agency (ANPA). A university network (RAPI.RETE) has been established and a group of innovative and technologically advanced tools (ECO.CATHEDRA, ECO.OFFICINA, ECO.DISCO and DPS.MANUAL) are being developed to support teachers and students in the educational content and processes. The tools are now going to be distributed (free of charge) in Italian Universities and, both the ANPA and the CIR.IS have given their consent for their translation/adaptation into other languages (without charge).     

Designing the sustainable product-service integration: a product-service blueprint approach

As a means for providing the sustainable production and consumption, the concept of product-service system (PSS) has received increasing attention. What is at the core in the PSS is the design, since it determines the distinctive characteristics and quality of PSS. Even though some tools have been suggested for PSS design, previous tools mainly focus on identifying the relationship between actors in a conceptual level. Despite the fact that it is significant and cannot be neglected, what is more important in a practical situation is to represent the detailed flow or relationship of PSS elements, with the consideration of products and services. In response, this paper proposes a ‘‘product-service blueprint’ which is a new and systematic way to elucidate the relationship between products and services, providing the implication of how PSS can provide the sustainable production and consumption. Employing the service blueprint as a starting point, new areas, lines, and symbols are introduced to represent the distinctive features of PSS. The proposed product-service blueprint represents the product use throughout the life cycle, service flow from the management to the customer, and the relationship between products and services. Taken together, the product-service blueprint will help both managers and researchers to promote the product-service integration under the concrete framework.     

居住区生态适宜性指标体系的探讨

生态适宜性指标体系已为上海市居住区的环境影响评价和规划工作广泛采用。在评述34份规划与评价报告中该指标体系使用情况的基础上．从生态居住区的内涵出发．新增并修正了部分指标。修正后的指标体系有反映居住区自然与人文生态环境的二级指标2项．三级指标8项。四级指标17项．基本实现了各项指标的定量化衡量。     

城市人工湖泊引调水方案优化评估指标体系研究及应用

针对龙湖这一具有复杂边界的城市人工湖泊,建立基于无结构网格的二维水流水质耦合计算模式,并进行守恒性验证。提出适用于湖泊引调水方案优化的评估指标体系,包括反映调水流态的流场评价指标和反映水质改善效果的水体置换评价指标。利用该评估指标体系进行龙湖引调水方案的优化研究,对不同进水口位置、进水口水量分配和水下地形的调水方案评价指标进行了计算分析,得到推荐的优化方案,即：3个进水口分别布置在水湾4,水湾6和水湾10;进水口水量依次为4．5m^3／s,8．5m^3／s和3．5m^3／s;水下地形在满足龙湖湖区区域水体功能的前提下尽量采用平底或缓坡地形。