CHALLENGES IN MEASURING PROGRESS IN POST-2015 DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK

ILLUSTRATIVE CASE STUDY OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS IN 14 ASEM COUNTRIES

10th December, 2013Incheon, Republic of Korea

Ms. Grazyna PulawskaAsia-Europe Foundation (ASEF)

2

Overview

• Introduction• Methodology• Objectives• Indicators• Conclusions

3

ASEF’s mandate to work on SDGs

9th ASEM Summit in Laos in 2012: “Leaders reaffirmed their commitment to achieve sustainable development, sustainable economic growth, social development and environmental protection. They underlined the importance of finalisation of the UN sustainable development goals through a transparent and inclusive inter-governmental process (…), in keeping with the outcome of the Rio+20 Conference on sustainable development. These goals should be coherent with and integrated into the United Nations development agenda beyond 2015”.

ASEF 3-year programme: a series of activities aiming at elaborating a set of SDGs and associated indicators

Asia-Europe Environment Forum

• partnership of the Asia-Europe organisations• Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF), the ASEM SMEs Eco-

Innovation Center (ASEIC), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF), the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES),

• advisory committee consisting of representatives from EU&EEA, ASEAN and recognised think tanks from Asia and Europe

Geographic scope: ASEM Members

ASEM currently has 51 partners: 49 countries and 2 international organisations.

• The partners: Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brunei, Bulgaria, Cambodia, China, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Laos, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mongolia, Myanmar, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, the United Kingdom, Vietnam

• Organisations: European Union and ASEAN Secretariat

6

Post 2015 / SDGs are meant to be:

Aspirational Action oriented

Concise

Easy to communicate

Limited in number

Global in nature Universally

applicable

Reflecting national

differences

7

ASEF Study: “SD Goals and Indicators for a Small Planet”Objecti ves

1. Develop and test a methodology in selected Asia-Pacific and European countries to identify a system of SDGs, and to provide guidance for the methodology’s broader application at the global and national levels.

2. Identify illustrative SDGs and underlying targets and indicators that are guided by global and informed by national priorities as expressed in existing national SD Strategies and National Development Plans.

3. Provide countries in Asia-Pacific and Europe a foundation for developing their own SDG and indicator sets by producing national thematic templates that reflect their respective priorities, goals, targets and indicators.

4. Support the implementation of SDGs by providing guidance regarding their integration into policies and programs.

8

Our small(er) planet

FranceGermanyHungaryPolandSwedenSwitzerland

AustraliaBangladeshChinaIndiaIndonesiaJapanRepublic of KoreaSingapore

10

Components of the SDG ‘package’

SDG component RepresentationGoal Goal statement: the general

area of concernSub-goal Sub-goal statement: what is

the specific aspirationTarget Where to aimIndicator How to measure

11

The System Approach facilitates the categorization of goals and priorities

The Ultimate Means-Ultimate Ends tool enabled the integration of the 3 SD pillars in each goal and guided the proper placements and

order of goals and priorities

12

The 10+1 Priority themes + Goal statements

1. Poverty and inequality Poverty and inequality are reduced

2. Health and population Population is stabilized and universal access to basic health services is provided

3. Education and learning Education is a major contributor to the sustainability transformation

4. Quality of growth and employment

Economic growth is environmentally sound and contributes to social well-being

5. Settlements, infrastructure and transport

Settlements with their infrastructure are liveable, green and well-managed

6. SCP and economic sectors Resource effi cient and environmentally friendly production and consumption characterize all economic sectors

7. Food security, sustainable agriculture and fisheries

Sustainable agriculture, food security and universal nutrition have been achieved

8. Energy and climate change Climate change is effectively addressed while access to clean and sustainable energy has been significantly improved

9. Water availability and access Safe and affordable water is provided for all and the integrity of the water cycle is ensured

10. Biodiversity and ecosystems Biodiversity and ecosystems are healthy and contribute to human well-being

+1 Adaptive governance and means of implementation

Adequate structures and mechanisms are in place to support the implementation of the priorities underlying the SDGs at all levels

Ultimate means

Natural capital

Intermediate means

Built capital and social capital

Intermediate ends

Human capital and social capital

Ultimate ends

Human and planetary well being

1. Poverty and inequality 2. Health and population 3. Education and learning

4. Quality of growth and employment

5. Settlements, infrastructure and transport 6. SCP and economic sectors 7. Food security, sustainable agriculture and

fisheries 8. Energy and climate change 9. Water availability and access 10. Biodiversity and ecosystems

+1 Adaptive governance and means of implementation

14

Beyond MDGs: Focus on Structure of the Economy

15

China example:

Investment and innovation for green and circular economy has been significantly increased

Goals Targets Indicators

16

Germany example:

Investment and innovation for green and circular economy has been significantly increased

Goals Targets Indicators

17

Example of available indicators for ASEM

[OECD] Number of patenting co-inventors in green technologies

v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v

[Eurostat] Employment in the environmental goods and services sector

v v v v v v

6.4 Investment and innovation for green and circular economy has been significantly increased

18

ASEI

Framework and indicators differ depending on where the focus lies :

Looked at recent academic literatures and reports (e.g. Javier), Current national and regional trends & initiatives (e.g. OECD), Proposed framework and indicators (e.g. UNU-MERIT, EIO), Related Indexes (e.g. EPI, GII)

ASEM ECO-INNOVATION INDEX - ASEI Framework

OECD Green Growth Measurement (2012)

European Environment Agency: Eco-innovation indicators (2006)

Eco-Innovation Scoreboard (2012) EIO

Global Cleantech Innovation Index (2012)

Strictly Private & Confidential© Sustinvest. 2013. All rights reserved

20

ASEI

No agreement hitherto exists on a set of indicators that accurately measure eco-innovation

Thus, ASEI is an evolving project which will always carry room for improvement

ASEI shows on a handful of proposed indicators for eco-innovation

There have been few cases where a preliminary set of eco-innovation indicators was proposed but actual measuring procedure had been neglected.

• Only Eco-innovation Scoreboard (EIO-IS) quantitatively measures eco-innovation at national level

Where does ASEI focus lie?

Capacity

Institutional Framework Supporting Environment

Covers a comprehensive yet manageable body of information on core eco-innovation issues e.g. green technology, environmental R&D expenditure, green market

Strictly Private & Confidential© Sustinvest. 2013. All rights reserved

The ASEI Project

Eco

-inno

vatio

n C

apac

ity

Eco

-inno

vatio

n S

uppo

rtin

g E

nviro

nmen

t

Eco

-inno

vatio

n A

ctiv

ity

Eco

-inno

vatio

n P

erfo

rman

ce

Four Criteria

Twenty Indicators in total

ASEM Eco-Innovation Index

5 in

dica

tors

4 in

dica

tors

5 in

dica

tors

6 in

dica

tors

Strictly Private & Confidential© Sustinvest. 2013. All rights reserved

Criteria Indicators

2nd ASEM Eco-innovation Index

1. Eco-Innovation Capacity

1.1 County’s Economic Competitiveness

1.2 Country’s General Innovation Capacity

1.3 Green Technology possessed/acquired Firms

1.4 Green Technology R&D Institution Capacity

1.5 Awareness of Sustainability Management

2. Eco-Innovation Supporting Environment

2.1 Government’s R&D Expenditure in Green Industry

2.2 Implementation of Environmental Regulations

2.3 Maturity of Investment Setting for Green Technology Industry

2.4 Investment Scale towards Green Technology SMEs

To measure eco-innovation of a country the following key indicators & themes are looked at

Strictly Private & Confidential© Sustinvest. 2013. All rights reserved

Criteria Indicators

2nd ASEM Eco-innovation Index

3. Eco-Innovation Activities

3.1 Commercialization Level of Green Technology

3.2 Firms’ Participation on Environmental Management System

3.3 Economic Influence of Leading Environmentally Responsive Firms

3.4 Green Patents

3.5 Activeness of Renewable Energy Utilization

4. Eco-Innovation Performance

4.1 Level of Environmental Impact on Society

4.2 CO2 Emission Intensity

4.3 Country’s Energy Sustainability level

4.4 Water consumption intensity

4.5 Jobs in Green Technology Industry

4.6 Green Industry Market Size

Strictly Private & Confidential© Sustinvest. 2013. All rights reserved

25

Some Lessons

1. Use simple language and ensure common understanding of terminology

2. There is no generally right way of ‘cutting the cake’. Logic and consensus must always be exercised

3. There will always be tension between comprehensiveness and manageabilityAvoid the trap of covering all issues that can result in very long and unwieldy SDG set

26

Contracti on and convergence

27

National sustainability dashboard

• Purpose is to strengthen effectiveness and transparency in SDG implementation

• Grounded in global goals and subgoals as common elements• Customized as and where required to the national context

based on targets and indicators• Directly linked with existing national data systems (statistical

and remote sensing)• Has an easily understandable, transparent, user-friendly

interface • Serves the information needs of implementation mechanisms• Dynamically updated and revised as required

28

29

G o a l s and S u b – g o a l s

Targets

Indicators

30

Dashboard of Sustainability

Source: http://esl.jrc.ec.europa.eu/envind/dashbrds.htm

ENVforum 2013 - 2015

• Continuation of research on SDGs in ASEM countries• Knowledge management • Information tailored to target group • Multi-stakeholder consultation

Specifically:• Indicators for SD• Governance & Financing