Conceptualising sustainability assessment

TLDR: In this paper, the authors present an alternative notion of sustainability assessment, with the more ambitious aim of seeking to determine whether or not an initiative is actually sustainable, and compare TBL approaches and principles-based approaches to developing such sustainability criteria, concluding that the latter are more appropriate, since they avoid many of the inherent limitations of the triple-bottom-line as a conception of sustainability.

About: This article is published in Environmental Impact Assessment Review.The article was published on 2004-08-01 and is currently open access. It has received 821 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Sustainability organizations & Social sustainability.

Figures

Fig. 2. Objectives-led integrated assessment approach to sustainability assessment (maximise objectives)

Table 2 Western Australian sustainability principles and criteria

Fig. 1. EIA-driven integrated assessment approach to sustainability assessment (minimise adverse impacts)

Table 1 Comparison of three conceptualisations of sustainability assessment

Frequently asked questions

Q1. What have the authors contributed in "Conceptualising sustainability assessment" ?

Sustainability assessment is often described as a process by which the implications of an initiative on sustainability are evaluated, where the initiative can be a proposed or existing policy, plan, programme, project, piece of legislation, or a current practice or activity. This article seeks to provide some clarification by reflecting on the different approaches described in the literature as being forms of sustainability assessment, and evaluating them in terms of their potential contributions to sustainability. The authors present an alternative conception of sustainability assessment, with the more ambitious aim of seeking to determine whether or not an initiative is actually sustainable. The article compares TBL approaches and principles-based approaches to developing such sustainability criteria, concluding that the latter are more appropriate, since they avoid many of the inherent limitations of the triple-bottom-line as a conception of sustainability. 

Q2. What are the main issues that are not subject to assessment?

Ongoing land-use activities, such as natural resource management (fishing, agriculture, forestry etc.) or urban life (eg use of private motor cars) are not subject to assessment processes. 

Q3. What does the definition of objectives-led integrated assessment mean?

Just as objectives-led SEA requires defined environmental objectives, objectives-led integrated assessment requires clearly defined environmental, social and economic objectives against which the assessment can be conducted. 

Q4. What is the promising place for application of sustainability-based criteria?

Gibson (2001, p1) points out that “environmental assessment processes….are among the most promising venues for application of sustainability-based criteria. 

Q5. What is the difference between objectives-led and EIA-driven integrated assessment?

Given the prevalent view that sustainability is about positive change rather than simply minimising the negative, objectives-led integrated assessment clearly has more potential to contribute to sustainability than EIA-driven integrated assessment. 

Q6. What is the alternative approach to the development of assessment for sustainability criteria?

The alternative approach to the development of assessment for sustainability criteria, and the one that the authors favour, assumes a ‘top-down’ generation of criteria. 

Q7. What is the next step in the process of defining criteria for the purposes of assessment?

The next stage in the process of defining criteria for the purposes of assessment would be to operationalise the criteria in Table 2 specifically for the assessment at hand. 

Q8. What is the meaning of the term sustainability assessment?

The fact that much sustainability assessment thinking has been substantially developed by EIA and SEA practitioners is understandable, given that sustainability assessment is often considered to be the ‘next generation’ of environmental assessment (Sadler 1999).