Abstract

In the course of evaluating the progress in implementing Agenda 21 (United Nations 1992) the “Commission on Sustainable Development” began developing a set of indicators of sustainable development. The first version was finalised in 1996 with the suggestion of 134 indicators (UNDPCSD 1996) and put to a field test, resulting in a final version published in 2001 (UNDESA 2001). In both versions, the indicators are divided up into for issue thematic areas correponding to four dimensions of sustainable development: economic, environmental, social, and institutional. The further conceptual separation into driving force, state, and response indicators was given up in the final version. Generally, (inter-) governmental organisations are explicitly referred to as institutions, which in the course of decision-making have to take aspects of sustainable development into consideration.

Objectives of sustainable development are mainly defined for the economic, social and environmental dimension, but for effective compliance as well as for sustainability characteristics like justice or participation they must be complemented by core institutional objectives. The CSD’s set of sustainability indicators was the first one to explicitly take into account the institutional dimension of sustainability, and other organisations like the World Bank and the OECD have followed. As it is the case with most land breaking pioneer projects, the indicators suggested offer significant room for improvement.