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

1-Mar-2012New 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, 43rd Session1 March 2012

1-Mar-2012New York


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-2012New York


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

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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-2012New York


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)?

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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-2012New York


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-2012New York


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-2012New York


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-2012New York


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-2012New York


Key actions to strengthen household & distributional aspects include

Short Medium Long 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-2012New York


Economic & physical activity

Economic & physical activity

Governance & basic rights

Governance & basic rights

Experience of life

Experience of life

Leisure & social interactions (inclusion/exclusion)

Leisure & social interactions (inclusion/exclusion)

healthhealth

Productive and valued activities (including work)

Productive and valued activities (including work)

Natural & living environment

Natural & living environment

EducationEducation

Material living conditions

(income, wealth and consumption)

Material living conditions

(income, wealth and consumption)

Quality of life

Quality of life

Topic 2: Quality of life – agreement on the (multi) dimensions

1-Mar-2012New York


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-2012New York



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-2012New York


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 CO2 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-2012New York


domestic industries, 7.2

imports, 1.7

capital formation, 1.6

direct by private households 1.9

direct by private households 1.9

consumption expenditure 5.6

exports, 1.6

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0

11.0

Production perspective Consumption perspective

2006 2006

tonn

es C

O2

per c

apita

Different approaches to deriving footprint indicators

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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-2012New York



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-2012New York


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-2012New York


Consistency with theory

Political relevance Measurability

Stiglitz

GDP&BeyondEurope 2020

The OECDTriangle for Quality of

Indicators (QoL)

Need to bring all elements together

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1-Mar-2012New York


Reference documents

The Sponsorship Report

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/pgp_ess/0_DOCS/estat/SpG_progress_wellbeing_report_after_ESSC_adoption_22Nov1.pdf

“GDP and Beyond” (Communication of the Commission) http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2009:0433:FIN:EN:PDF)

„Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi-Commission“ (France) http://www.stiglitz-sen-fitoussi.fr/en/index.htm)

„Measurement of Progress“ (OECD) http://www.oecd.org/pages/0,3417,en_40033426_40033828_1_1_1_1_1,00.html




http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2009:0433:FIN:EN:PDF

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2009:0433:FIN:EN:PDF

http://www.stiglitz-sen-fitoussi.fr/en/index.htm

http://www.oecd.org/pages/0,3417,en_40033426_40033828_1_1_1_1_1,00.html

http://www.oecd.org/pages/0,3417,en_40033426_40033828_1_1_1_1_1,00.html

Documents

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