Beyond indicator industry? Use and potential influences of sustainable development indicators in national and EU- level Janne Rinne, Jari Lyytimäki, Petrus Kautto Finnish Environment Institute [email protected] 23.06.22
Jan 14, 2016
Beyond indicator industry?
Use and potential influences of sustainable development indicators in national and EU-
level
Janne Rinne, Jari Lyytimäki, Petrus KauttoFinnish Environment Institute
21.04.23
Introduction
POINT (POlicy Influence of INdicaTors) Selected key results from case studies of
Sustainable Development Indicators (SDI) in EU and Finland
In this presentation we:• chart the level and type of use of SDIs• identify reasons for use or non-use of
indicators, and possible resulting influences
• discuss factors that explain use and influence
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Background
The typology employed in the POINT project Http://www.point-eufp7.info/
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Factors determining influence
- Indicator
- User
- Policy
Forms of use
- Instrumental
- Conceptual
- Political
Methods and material
Document analysis• SD strategies, indicator reports, related evaluation
reports and policy documents
Semi-structured interviews• EU: seven interviews of high-level civil servants and
highly qualified practitioners and users of SDIs (2010) • Finland: a focus group interview and four individual
interviews (2009 – 2010) + interviews of over 40 high-level policy-makers and experts (2001-2002), interviews of 20 experts, practitioners and policy-makers (2008)
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Overview of Finnish SD strategies and indicators
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Overview of EU SD strategies and indicators
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Current use of indicatorsUsers Use Types of
useRole of indicator Influence
Secretariat-General of the European Commission, Finnish National Commission on SD,evaluators of SD strategy
Monitoring and evaluation of SD strategy
Instrumental
Provides data for SD policy evaluation
SD policy evaluated
Secretariat-General of the European Commission, Finnish National Commission on SD
Revision of SD strategy
Instrumental, conceptual
Represents content of SDPriority setting Problem identification
Reformulation of SD policy
SD indicator developers
SD indicator design
Conceptual Arena for discussion, confrontation and learning
Learning, consensus and trust building
Civil servants of DGs (outside SD policy area)
Policy preparation
Instrumental, conceptual, political
Priority setting Problem identificationLegitimizes policies
(Re)formulation of policies
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Potential use of indicatorsUsers Use Types of
useRole of indicator Influence
Civil servantsPolicy-makers (outside SD policy area)
Policy preparation
Instrumental, conceptual, political
Describes the issues and trends in SD Priority setting Problem identification
(Re)formulation of policies
NGOsPressure groups
LobbyingAwareness raising
Political Problem identificationSupports argumentation
SD issues raised to political debate, political pressure
Journalists Media
Communicating SD issues
Conceptual, political
Describes the issues and trends in SD
SD issues raised to political debate Political pressure
Private citizens
Receiving information about SD
Conceptual Describes the issues and trends in SD
Change in public perceptions, voting, lifestyles
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Use confined inside the “indicator industry” The previous practices of indicator development
and institutionalized reporting mechanisms largely determine the current “instrumental” use of SDIs
Instrumental use is confined inside “the indicator industry”
Instrumental use of SDIs by other actors appears to be very scarce
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Influence related to the SD policies
SDIs are systematically used in the monitoring of SD strategies
Indicator, evaluation and progress reports are produced for this purpose
SDIs are used in revisions of SD strategies The indicator development and SD strategy
revisions have been parallel and iterative processes where the indicators have influenced the strategies, and vice versa
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Challenge of delivering the holistic overall picture Individual SDIs are used to some extent in different
policy areas Some indicators were considered influential (e.g.
GDP and GHG emissions) Sector specific information often is more abundant,
detailed and up-to-date than SDIs Selective use of SDIsSDIs do not bring holistic perspective of SD into
policy-making (outside the SD policy area)
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Indicator factors explaining the use and influence Barriers for the use:
• Poor timeliness (time-lags), complexity, lack of clear message, inappropriate timing of the indicator release, the poor visual quality and technical characteristics, unfocused target audience
• Methods to communicate the indicators may not match the needs of the target audience
Possibilities to enhance the use and influence:• Technical improvements• More focus on communication process and on the
context of use
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User factors explaining the use and influence
The potential users of SD indicators may not have the expertise to interpret all the indicators
SDIs mainly used by indicator experts in "indicator industry”
Non-use by media, NGOs, policy-makers and citizens
The importance of stakeholder involvement Unrealistic expectations: Evidence based vs.
emotion based decision-making?
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Policy factors explaining the use and influence Lack of measurable targets in SD strategies Vagueness and lack of focus of the concept of SD The concept of SD has lost lot of its power as
rhetorical innovation and thus ability to direct and inspire action
SD policy is not high priority in the general political agenda. SDIs perhaps replaced by well-being/happiness indicators?
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Conclusions
Instrumental use is confined inside the indicator industry
Seeing indicators purely in instrumental terms is unlikely to reveal all the influences of SDIs
SDIs may play a conceptual role in:• acting as tools that enhance learning, initiating or
stimulating political debate, acting boundary objects, adding focus on unstructured policies, enabling trust and consensus building between actors
Lack of influence: a matter of unrealistic expectations?
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Future considerations
Relationship between SDIs and well-being or happiness indicators: novel insights of just re-inventing the wheel?
Non-intended use and influence of SDIs
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Thank you for your attention!
Http://www.point-eufp7.info/
Jari LyytimäkiFinnish Environment [email protected]
21.04.23