Synthetic sustainable development indicators: past experience and guidelines
Synthetic sustainable development indicators: past experience and guidelines

Summary/Abstract: In the paper an overview of selected synthetic indicators of sustainable development will be followed by a presentation of historical case studies on Ecological Footprint, Total Material Requirement, and Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare. All these indicators were calculated for Poland in the past. Critical discussion of indicators helps to understand all difficulties associated with the measurement and interpretation of the results. The author suggests that synthetic indicators generate important statistical information supplementary and complementary to the Gross Domestic Product. Another objective of the paper is to stress that any extension of the national accounts methodology towards an integrated system of economic and environmental accounts, as it is supported recently by the EU, should be accompanied by a number of country studies on related synthetic indicators.

• Details
• Contents