How To Select The Most Adequate Sustainable Development Index In OrderTo Avoid Contradictions

The article gives an overview of the most widely used sustainability indices. Subsequently we demonstrate that sustainability indices do give varying results. Thirdly, the article attempts to analyse sustainability indices based on Moffatt's et al. [l] hypothesis that these contradicting results are caused by differences in understanding the notion of sustainable development (SD) and values behind them. Finally, we propose guidelines for decision-makers to help them select the index most suitable for their purpose. The goal of this article is to investigate why different sustainable development indices provide contradicting judgments on sustainability and to suggest to decision makers the tool to avoid these contradictions The research focuses on eight sustainability indices (ecological footprint, environmental sustainability index, environmental space, index of sustainable economic welfare, genuine progress indicator, human development index, genuine savings and environmentally adjusted net national product). The indices are then critically analysed from the perspective of how their underlying concepts approach the notion of sustainability and which key questions the indices actually answer. The analysis demonstrates that the indices understand the notion of sustainable development very differently and that they have very diverse underlying concepts for measuring sustainability, thus providing the basis for seemingly contradicting judgments. Instead of answering the question whether an economy is sustainable or not, the questions should be formulated more precisely. It can be concluded that if sustainability indices do provide contradicting results then this is because of using them in an uninformed manner. Transactions on Ecology and the Environment vol 63, © 2003 WIT Press, www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541