1-Mar-2012 New York UNSC meeting: Results of the Sponsorship Group on Measuring Progress, Well-Being and Sustainable Development Seminar on the results of the ESS Sponsorship Group on Measuring Progress, Well-being and sustainable development –Presentation background and main results –Panel discussion: controversial issues, follow up and developments in other regions –Discussion

1-Mar-12 Measuring Progress, Well-Being and Sustainable Development: Results of the European Statistical Systems’ Sponsorship Group Pieter Everaers Director: Cooperation in the European Statistical System, International mcooperation, resources, Eurostat UN Statistical Commission, 43 rd Session 1 March 2012

1-Mar-2012 New York UNSC meeting: Results of the Sponsorship Group on Measuring Progress, Well-Being and Sustainable Development Overview of the presentation –Some basic orientation on European Statistics –Why is Europe looking at this now? –The EU response to the well-being & sustainability agenda –Topic 1: Strengthening the household perspective & distributional aspects Better assess inequalities and disparities (intra-generational) –Topic 2: Quality of life – agreement on the (multi) dimensions –Topic 3: Environmental sustainability – first priority actions Take into account environmental issues and sustainability (inter-generational) –Challenges and Need to bring all elements together

1-Mar-2012 New York UNSC meeting: Results of the Sponsorship Group on Measuring Progress, Well-Being and Sustainable Development Focus on European statistics: some basic orientation What is a Sponsorship? –Consultative and deliberative review taken by the European Statistical System, with political leadership (Eurostat/France) –Carried out by a high level Task Force What is the European Statistical System (ESS)? –Partnership between all the statistical agencies across the EU & associated countries (e.g. EFTA) What is Eurostat? –Statistical agency of the European Commission –Collates data transferred from the EU Member States –Disseminates comparable data in support of European policies –Co-ordination/leadership role for the ESS

1-Mar-2012 New York UNSC meeting: Results of the Sponsorship Group on Measuring Progress, Well-Being and Sustainable Development Why is Europe looking at this now? (1) Increasing dissatisfaction with our reliance on GDP as the sole measure of societal progress –Overall awareness of the need to complement GDP to measure the progress of societies –Measure well-being of people (importance of subjective well-being) –Better assess inequalities and disparities (intra-generational) –Take into account environmental issues and sustainability (inter-generational)

1-Mar-2012 New York UNSC meeting: Results of the Sponsorship Group on Measuring Progress, Well-Being and Sustainable Development Why is Europe looking at this now? (2) Intensifying & broadening political interest within Europe –Broadening list of active Member States & personal interest of political leaders (Germany, France, UK) –Commission adopts GDP & Beyond communication (2009) –France commissioned influential Stiglitz Sen Fitoussi Report (2009) Given fresh impetus as a result of the on-going financial crisis –Would a broader range of indicators have foreseen the crisis? –How have some key population groups fared as a result of the crisis (e.g. children, or those in lowest socio-economic brackets)?

1-Mar-2012 New York UNSC meeting: Results of the Sponsorship Group on Measuring Progress, Well-Being and Sustainable Development The EU response to the well-being & sustainability agenda Major European conference involving broad participation (statisticians, environmentalists, social policy makers) (Nov 2007) Commission produces political roadmap for actions in the short/medium term (Aug 2009) Sponsorship Group launched by the European Statistical System (Feb 2010) Sponsorship Group Reports (November 2011) Stiglitz Report

1-Mar-2012 New York UNSC meeting: Results of the Sponsorship Group on Measuring Progress, Well-Being and Sustainable Development 1.Complementing GDP with environmental and social indicators  A comprehensive environmental index  Quality of life and well-being 2.Near real time information for decision-making  More timely environmental indicators  More timely social indicators 3.More accurate reporting on distribution and inequalities 4.Developing a European Sustainable Development Scoreboard 5.Extending National Accounts to environmental and social issues Priorities set out in the European Roadmap 2009 Europe 2020 Towards

1-Mar-2012 New York UNSC meeting: Results of the Sponsorship Group on Measuring Progress, Well-Being and Sustainable Development The Stiglitz Report: among the 12 recommendations Emphasise household perspective Income and consumption jointly with wealth Look at income and consumption rather than production Measure the distribution of income, consumption and wealth Measures of both objective and subjective well-being provide key information about people’s quality of life Statistical offices should provide the information needed to aggregate across QoL dimensions, allowing the construction of different indexes

1-Mar-2012 New York UNSC meeting: Results of the Sponsorship Group on Measuring Progress, Well-Being and Sustainable Development How did the “Sponsorship Group” work? Broad participation of EU Member States including key partners (e.g. OECD, UNECE, ECB) led by Eurostat and INSEE (France) 3 Task Forces reflecting the topics highlighted by the Stiglitz Report (plus a co-ordinating Task Force) (1)On households, (2) Environmental sustainability, (3)multi-dimensional quality of life Mandate: Consider what should be EU statistical priorities & actions for the short to long term Approach: Build on existing frameworks

1-Mar-2012 New York UNSC meeting: Results of the Sponsorship Group on Measuring Progress, Well-Being and Sustainable Development Topic 1: Strengthening the household perspective & distributional aspects Promoting existing national accounts data on household income & consumption Providing information on distribution of income, consumption & wealth Encouraging compilation of balance sheet accounts for households Emphasising concrete actions in the short – long term

1-Mar-2012 New York UNSC meeting: Results of the Sponsorship Group on Measuring Progress, Well-Being and Sustainable Development Key actions to strengthen household & distributional aspects include ShortMediumLong term Publish additional headline figures on household income & consumption Publish consumption figures Develop measurement of household liabilities Reconciliation exercises between social statistics & national accounts data Publication of annual data on distribution Consider whether/how to change EU level household surveys to better record social transfers in kind Increase coverage of assets for household sector Increase coverage of household wealth

1-Mar-2012 New York UNSC meeting: Results of the Sponsorship Group on Measuring Progress, Well-Being and Sustainable Development Quality of life Material living conditions (income, wealth and consumption) Education Natural & living environment Productive and valued activities (including work) health Leisure & social interactions (inclusion/ exclusion) Experience of life Governance & basic rights Economic & physical activity Topic 2: Quality of life – agreement on the (multi) dimensions

1-Mar-2012 New York UNSC meeting: Results of the Sponsorship Group on Measuring Progress, Well-Being and Sustainable Development Topic 2: Multi-dimensional measures of quality of life Use EU Statistics on Income & Living Conditions as the core instrument Complement the coverage of the dimensions with additional data sources Deepen and improve the analysis

1-Mar-2012 New York UNSC meeting: Results of the Sponsorship Group on Measuring Progress, Well-Being and Sustainable Development ShortMediumLong term Topic 2: Multi-dimensional measures of quality of life Add subjective well-being questions in the 2013 SILC ad-hoc modules Add further dimensions to EU SILC, e.g. trust in institutions, social participation Further develop EU SILC as core instrument of QoL measurement New & revised surveys will add to QoL (e.g. European Health Interview Survey), changes to LFS Household Finance & Consumption Survey to yield new data Extend and develop Time Use survey & Household Budget Survey Develop synthetic indicators to go alongside a scoreboard of primary indicators Compile indicators based on existing data

1-Mar-2012 New York UNSC meeting: Results of the Sponsorship Group on Measuring Progress, Well-Being and Sustainable Development Topic 3: Environmental sustainability – first priority actions Develop energy flows accounts and derive indicators (e.g. energy use by economic activity) Further develop indicators related to climate change Develop early estimates of CO 2 emissions based on monthly energy statistics Derive “footprint indicators” using Supply and Use Input/Output Tables (SUIOT) to look at the “consumer perspective” of global climate change Explore production of a “raw material consumption” indicator All by 2014

1-Mar-2012 New York UNSC meeting: Results of the Sponsorship Group on Measuring Progress, Well-Being and Sustainable Development Different approaches to deriving footprint indicators

1-Mar-2012 New York UNSC meeting: Results of the Sponsorship Group on Measuring Progress, Well-Being and Sustainable Development ShortMediumLong term Topic 3: Environmental sustainability - second priority actions Develop environmental goods and services sector (EGSS) Develop asset accounts for natural resources, including sub-soil assets and energy assets Consolidate & simplify the environmental protection expenditure accounts (EPEA) Use Land Use/Land Cover data to build relevant indicators on landscape and biodiversity Seek to merge both the above with existing framework for European environmental accounts

1-Mar-2012 New York UNSC meeting: Results of the Sponsorship Group on Measuring Progress, Well-Being and Sustainable Development ShortMediumLong term Topic 3: Environmental sustainability - third priority actions Harmonise presentation and meta-data of existing waste indicators Develop water accounts to map use of water according to economic activity Improve data coverage & quality of existing water statistics & develop indicators for pressures on regional water resources Develop waste accounts based on existing waste statistics

1-Mar-2012 New York UNSC meeting: Results of the Sponsorship Group on Measuring Progress, Well-Being and Sustainable Development Challenges Implementation Giving broader society time to “catch up” with the statisticians –Openness to the results of a broader societal reflection, e.g. civil society reflection with the EU –Still evolving picture at national level Moving forward but keeping some flexibility Selecting a dashboard of indicators Getting political acceptance and use of the data (long term)

1-Mar-2012 New York UNSC meeting: Results of the Sponsorship Group on Measuring Progress, Well-Being and Sustainable Development Consistency with theory Political relevance Measurability Stiglitz GDP&BeyondEurope 2020 The OECD Triangle for Quality of Indicators (QoL) Need to bring all elements together

1-Mar-2012 New York UNSC meeting: Results of the Sponsorship Group on Measuring Progress, Well-Being and Sustainable Development

1-Mar-2012 New York UNSC meeting: Results of the Sponsorship Group on Measuring Progress, Well-Being and Sustainable Development

1-Mar-2012 New York UNSC meeting: Results of the Sponsorship Group on Measuring Progress, Well-Being and Sustainable Development Reference documents The Sponsorship Report _DOCS/estat/SpG_progress_wellbeing_report_after_ESSC_a doption_22Nov1.pdf “GDP and Beyond” (Communication of the Commission) lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2009:0433 :FIN:EN:PDF) lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2009:0433 :FIN:EN:PDF „Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi-Commission“ (France) „Measurement of Progress“ (OECD) 1_1_1_1_1,00.html 1_1_1_1_1,00.html