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Sustainability Indicators Past and Present: What Next?

Author

Listed:
  • Simon Bell

    (Bayswater Institute and the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Faculty, Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK)

  • Stephen Morse

    (Centre for Environment and Sustainability, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, UK)

Abstract

This paper discusses the current state of thought amongst the Sustainability Indicator (SI) community, what has been achieved and where we are succeeding and failing. Recent years have witnessed the rise of “alternative facts” and “fake news” and this paper discusses how SIs fit into this maelstrom, especially as they are themselves designed to encapsulate complexity into condensed signals and it has long been known that SIs can be selectively used to support polarized sides of a debate. This paper draws from chapters in a new edited volume, the “Routledge Handbook of Sustainability Indicators and Indices”, edited by the authors. The book has 34 chapters written by a total of 59 SI experts from a wide range of backgrounds, and attempts to provide a picture of the past and present, strengths and weaknesses of SI development today. This paper is an “analysis of those analyses”—a mindful reflection on reflection, and an assessment of the malign and benign forces at work in 2018 within the SI arena. Finally, we seek to identify where SIs may be going over the coming, unpredictable years.

Suggested Citation

  • Simon Bell & Stephen Morse, 2018. "Sustainability Indicators Past and Present: What Next?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-15, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:5:p:1688-:d:148417
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Stephen Morse, 2013. "Out of Sight, Out of Mind. Reporting of Three Indices in the UK National Press Between 1990 and 2009," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(4), pages 242-259, July.
    2. Yevheniya Hyrina & Apostolos Serletis, 2010. "Purchasing power parity over a century," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 37(1), pages 117-144, January.
    3. Diane Coyle, 2014. "GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 10183.
    4. Stephen Morse, 2016. "Measuring the Success of Sustainable Development Indices in Terms of Reporting by the Global Press," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 125(2), pages 359-375, January.
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