Measuring Tools for Quantifying Sustainable Development

Abstract

This work reviews the tools and methods used for quantifying sustainable development. The paper first reviews categorization of the tools based on weak and strong sustainability. It then provides critical review of the UN review of sustainability indicators and the methods for calculating the indicators, which include the environmental footprint, capital approach to measuring sustainable development, green national net product, genuine savings, genuine progress indicator, indicator of sustainable economic welfare and human development indicator on sustainable development. The benefits of standardizing the assessment tools for sustainable development would be seen through well directed policy leading to a balance between economy, environment and society where none is compromised to achieve greater results in the other. However, there is still no single method of assessing the sustainability of development that is widely accepted as suitable and all methods developed have inadequacies that prevent a true measure of sustainable development from being determined.

Keywords: Sustainability indicators, environmental footprint, genuine savings, sustainable economic welfare, human development indicator.