Indicators for Climate Neutral Urban Districts?

Louise Årman, PhD Candidate

e-mail: larman@kth.se

Indicators – What and Why

• Indicators is a communication tool that simplifies complex issues and making them accessible to a wider audience

• Indicators tells part of a story in a complex reality, but need the bigger picture to be relevant

• Facilitate communication and decision making with different stakeholders with different frames and intentions

• Good indicators should aid the target groups to understand a complex problem

In order to do so they at least need to be;

- Relevant

- Truthful

- Comprehensible

Source: Stanners et. al., 2007; Stevens, 2007

Audience – In development of Indicators and in there Use

• Indicators have long been seen as a technical fix, with deciding on indicators and data collection

• More attention has lately been drawn to the development process itself

• There is a need for different types of indicators communicating both simple metrics and aggregated information and this must be agreed upon

Source: e.g. Rydin et. al., 2003; Holden, 2006; Swedish EPA, 2002

Examples of General Criteria for Indicator Selection

• Clearly defined and scientifically representable

• Responsive to target goals and audience

• Data available

• Numerically measurable

• Spatially and temporally comparable

• Cost-effective

Source: e.g. Shen et. al., 2013, Brown, 2009, EEA, 2005

Typology Use within EEA

• Descriptive Indicators - Answers the question “What is Happening?” e.g. total CO2 emissions

• Performance Indicators

- Answers the question “Are the targets being meet?” Indicators that is related to target values

• Efficiency Indicators

- “Is there improvement within the area?” e.g. are we lowering emissions/vehicle km

• Policy Effectiveness Indicators - “Are the measures working?” Refers to indicators related to policy

making and relations to actions taken and real outcome.

• Total Welfare Indicators - “Are we on the whole better of?” Indicators that connect to

sustainability.

Source: Stanners et. al., 2007

Indicator Frameworks in Use, an example, the DPSIR Framework

Responses Drivers

Pressures

State

Impact

• Describes and show connections between different types of indicators •The framework can be a valuable tool in the process of indicator selection

Source: Adapted from EEA, 2003

Population growth

Increased CO2 emissions

Concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere

Higher average temperature

Technical improvements in cars

Indicator Sets in Use - Some Examples

• EEA have developed core set of indicators within different areas such as energy, transportation and climate change. Consists of 37 indicators which are regularly updated

• The Covenant of Mayors, a voluntary commitment by local and regional authorities to fight climate change. The objective is to reach and exceed the EU objective of 20 % CO2 reduction by 2020 Main target areas are buildings, urban transport and equipments

• The City of Whistler have taken an holistic approach towards sustainable development and climate actions

• The Project Sustainable Seattle is one of the first indicators projects

that embraced the importance of stakeholder involvement within the indicator process

Source: EEA, 2005; Covenant of Mayors, 2010; Resort Municipality of Whistler, 2007; Sustainable Seattle 2012

Examples of Indicators and their Relations

Sector EEA Core set of Indicators (examples)

Place in the DPSIR Framework

Type of Indicator

Climate Change Greenhouse gas emission trends

Pressure Performance indicator

Climate Change Global and European temperature

State Performance Indicator

Energy Final energy consumption by sector

Driving Force Descriptive Indicator

Energy Renewable electricity consumption

Response Performance Indicator

Transportation Passenger transport demand

Driving Force Descriptive Indicator

Transportation Use of cleaner and alternative fuels

Response Policy Effective Indicator

Source: EEA

Challenges with Indicators

• A poorly developed indicator can guide in the wrong direction

• Challenging to encapsulate complex information in one metrics

• Can be challenging to find good and transparent data

• Overload of indicator sets available, does it really matter?

Summary

• Well developed indicators can be an efficient communication tool

• It exists several types of frameworks and indicator sets

• Many of the indicators developed for climate actions are similar

• Indicators can also pose many challenges and are only part of the solution