The Charles University Environment Center together with the Czech Ministry of Environment prepared and led a side event at the Rio+20 Conference with the title Measuring a Green Economy: Insights into ‘Beyond GDP’ Indicators) at which three respected institutions presented their methods for evaluating various aspects of societal development within the context of sustainable development.

The seminar was opened by the Czech Deputy Minister of Environment, who spoke of how the green economy has increased demands on statistics, as it concerns not only the measurement and evaluation of isolated phenomena, but should also depict the interconnections between social, economic and environmental aspects. Only on the basis of reliable information – statistics, indicators, etc – is it possible to introduce responsible policies. The seminar chair, Prof. Bedřich Moldan, then placed the seminar theme within the retrospective of previous conferences and the long years of effort to build up a reliable system of monitoring and reporting. He recalled the first interest shown in alternative indicators of progress formulated in Agenda 21 through to the relatively complicated diplomacy needed to maintain the interest of countries in sustainability indicators and up to today’s initiatives by the European Commission, the OECD and several governments (the Stiglitz Commission).

Of the three invited speakers, the first to make a presentation was Prof Jacqueline McGlade from the European Environmental Agency on the efforts of her organisation to measure how Europe is getting on in several important environmental areas. She defined the green economy as an environment in which policy and innovation enable an increase in well-being through the effective use of resources via the preservation of natural ecosystem services. She pointed out that European countries have sophisticated national statistics, which is an advantage for creating alternative indicators. However, they will always be imperfect (simplified, selective and not depicting the whole picture), and therefore the essential task is the creation of accounts for all types of capital. The important job then will be to link the data from these accounts and base indicators on them with questions that interest politicians.

Another presentation was made by Kyle Gracey of the Global Footprint Network. He began by presenting an indicator which the GFN has been developing for a long time – the ecological footprint. Calculations which show an unsustainable trend in the extent of the use of the natural environment were interpreted in connection with competitiveness. Countries will sooner or later understand irrespective of ever bigger summits that the way in which natural resources are dealt with is a key issue relating to their long-term competitiveness. The ecological footprint, thanks to its aggregate from, is a suitable indicator for such analysis and evaluation.

 The last presentation was made by Nathalie Girouard of the OECD and its green growth coordinator. She explained that apart from official statistics, it’s also necessary to look at how people perceive their living conditions (and for all groups, especially the most vulnerable groups in society). Standard indicators do not do this. It’s also important to measure the quality of present life and wellbeing as if this quality will last into the future (scenarios, models, sustainability indicators). Girouard also talked about the Better Life Index, which was published by the OECD this year presented on its web pages. This includes 10 themes, including income, housing, environment, and education etc.

The following discussion focused on topics such as criticism of the overrating of evaluations of effectiveness. Effectiveness is important only from an economic point of view, otherwise it’s more important to monitor other parameters like the state of ecosystems (and critical natural capital), and the state of health of the population, etc. Prof. Moldan closed the seminar with a reminder that the development and application of sustainability indicators has not stopped being a challenge worth working on together.

The Charles University Environment Center also led and managed the Czech Republic’s contribution to the Rio+20 Conference by organising the Czech Major Groups in the formulation of a document on what action they would like to see undertaken to ensure a more sustainable future. Following a public debate stated on the theme of UN initiative The Future We Want, the CUEC compiled and published a document summarising the views expressed in that debate. That document, Rio+20: Contribution by Czech Major Groups, has been published primarily as an appeal to the Czech government to commit itself to the outcomes of the Rio+20 Conference and to ensure their gradual implementation.