SUSTAINABILITY MONITORINGWITH MATERIAL DRAWN FROM ALAN ATKISSON

Mary-Ellen Tyler and Mike Quinn

Purpose

To provide you with some background on performance indicators to help with today’s workshop

To provide you with some additional material for thinking about future directions

Monitoring Performance

Of what? - vision and principles of CMP (collectively and by members)

Need to align with province (SSRB) AND be meaning to CRP

What are the best indicators of ‘performance’? Connectivity? Biodiversity? Governance? What do we need to know about this system? What kind of organization do we want the CRP to be?

Indicators

From Latin ‘one who points out’ Performance Indicators:

Allow you to conclude direction & magnitude of change (+/-) over time (MEANINGFUL)

Require objective data (MEASURABLE) Should be easy to comprehend and be based on a

causal link (COMPREHENSIBLE) Closely linked with planning targets and critical

thresholds (LINKED TO THE SYSTEM)

Example

Meaningful? Measurable? Understandable?

39.5o C

Alan AtKisson

advises large companies, governments, cities, foundations, NGOs, and the United Nations

develops new strategies, design initiatives, manage complex programs, assess progress, and find better pathways to effective sustainability leadership

recently assisted the United Nations in designing and launching its first global Office for Sustainable Development

current and recent clients include Levi Strauss & Co., Ernst & Young, WWF-USA, the Government of Serbia, the Egyptian National Council on Competitiveness, and the Nile Basin Initiative

specializes in the areas of sustainability indicators and reporting, climate change strategy, renewable energy finance, green economic transformation, and large process facilitation.

coaches sustainability executives on how to sharpen their knowledge, capacity, and effectiveness at leading change.

More information

http://www.atkisson.com/index.php http://csid.asu.edu/resilience-2011/invited-

speakers/videos/alan-atkisson/

The Sustainability Transformation (ISIS) [why are we doing this?]

Indicators – tell us what’s happening Systems – non-linear cause-and-effect

linkages Innovation – changes that are new to the

system of interest Strategy – a plan for getting from here

to there

Sustainable Development

A directed process of continuous innovation and systematic change in the direction of sustainability

Sustainability – a set of conditions and trends in a given system that can continue indefinitely

Challenge

Complexityour growing understanding of sustainability

Simplicityfor public education and political action

“how do we construct indicator frameworks that are simple, elegant, and effective, without compromising the underlying complexity?” (AtKisson and Hatcher 2001)

Sustainability Compass

Designed to ...

(1) measure sustainability(2) support multi-stakeholder engagement, and(3) orient strategic planning and sustainable

development initiatives in the direction of systemic sustainability

The Sustainability Compass(adapted from Daly and Meadows)

➤ N = Nature Environmental impact, resource use, ecosystems, water, energy, climate change

➤ E = EconomyEfficiency, employment, innovation, sustainable business model development

➤ S = SocietySocial responsibility, governance, corporate culture, ethics, equity, transparency

➤ W = WellbeingWorker, customer, and community health & safety, worker opportunity, overall impact on quality of life

NATURE

ECONOMY

SOCIETY

WELLBEING

© AtKisson Inc.

The Sustainability Compass

powerful archetypal symbol

no hierarchy of elements (circular)

compasses provide orientation, but not direction

implies a journey to somewhere

Sustainability Compass

First applied in Orlando, FL in 2000 Complex indicator set converted into a series of 4

performance indices on a 0-100 scale Then aggregated into an overall sustainability

index Normative and allows for comparison over time

Summary of Indicators - OrlandoEconomic Indicatorso Value Added Industryo Knowledge Worker Intensityo Self Efficiencyo Resource Efficiencyo Retain Workforceo Job Creationo Local Gross Producto Registered Patents / Scientific Paperso Percent Human Capital Utilization

Nature Indicatorso Number of Species - biodiversityo % cover of parklando % of natural landscapeo Clean air dayso Tonnes of waste to landfillo Number of persons taking actiono Water usage per capitao Marine Water Temperatureo Greenhouse emissions

Society Indicatorso Participation in cultural and sporting

eventso Discretional income relative to where

and how you liveo Social cohesion – crime rateo Number of households adopting ESDo Educated society – tertiary degreeo Number of community Volunteerso Life Expectancyo % of community in decision making

processes

Well-Being Indicatorso Quality of Schooling and educationo New local job opportunitieso Personal Safety and fear of crimeo Ability to deal with hot dayso Quality of shoppingo Employment diversityo Travel to work, shops, and amenitieso Sense of communityo Proximity to jobs and local services

The Perception in Detail - Orlando

Perception of Stakeholders Past Present Future

Year 2000 2004 2010

Nature Sustainability Index 53.89 45.78 41.22

Economy Sustainability Index 26.44 44.44 78.00

Society Sustainability Index 31.78 36.44 48.11

Wellbeing Sustainability Index 56.11 55.22 47.22Sustainability Index for Townsville 42.06 45.47 53.64

http://www.soe-townsville.org/atkisson/index.html

Toward innovation and strategy Innovations are new ideas with a purpose. Their purpose is to

change a system.

Sustainability Innovations are new ideas that have the potential to improve the performance of a system in a long-term, positive direction. The best ones affect two, three, or even all four Compass Points.

The first thing to know about Innovations is that they do not have to be new (e.g., organic agriculture).

The second thing to know about Innovations is that they do not have to be technical - come in many different flavours: they can be new policies, new programs, new messages, new behaviours, new rules, new habits, new concepts …

Cautions

In a subject as complex as sustainability, with so many different parameters in play, it is simply impossible to find or to set purely objective scaling standards for every single variable. A strong stomach for criticism, and strong willingness to take that criticism in and make adjustments and improvements, is necessary for those using this method (AtKisson and Hatcher 2001).

Note

One of the key lessons reported by AtKisson after implementing the indicator framework for over a decade:

“Methodology questions relating to selecting, aggregating, weighting and scaling indicators are only controversial among indicator and data experts. Users just want something they can use.”

And... “Indicators that do no actually affect decisions and guide action are not indicators; they are just pretty data.”

Sustainable Seattle

Launched a sustainability indicator program in 1993 – emulated in many other locations

4th iteration is described at B-Sustainable.org

Non-aggregated approach (as is Sustainable Calgary’s)